Fighting  the  Fire 


FIREBRANDS 


BY 

FRANK  E.  MARTIN 

AND 

GEORGE  M.  DAVIS,  M.D. 


WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS 
FROM    PHOTOGRAPHS 


£>ci)0ol  coition 


BOSTON 

LITTLE,  BROWN,  AND  COMPANY 
1912 


Copyright,  1911, 
BY  LITTLE,  BROWN,  AND  COMPANY. 


All  rights  reserved 


Printer* 
S.  J.  PARK  HILL  &  Co.,  BOSTON,  U.  S.  A. 


PREFACE 

EVERY  year  fire  destroys  an  enor- 
mous amount  of  property  in  the 
United  States.  Of  this  great  loss 
by  which  our  country  is  made  just  so 
much  poorer,  for  property  destroyed  by 
fire  is  gone  forever  and  cannot  be  replaced, 
a  large  proportion  is  due  to  carelessness, 
thoughtlessness,  and  ignorance.  Nor  is  it 
a  property  loss  only.  Every  fire  endan- 
gers human  life,  and  the  number  of  lives 
lost  in  this  way  in  one  year  is  truly 
appalling. 

It  has  been  estimated  that  if  all  the 
buildings  burned  in  one  year  were  placed 
close  together  on  both  sides  of  a  street, 
they  would  make  an  avenue  of  desolation 
reaching  from  Chicago  to  New  York  City. 
At  each  thousand  feet  there  would  be  a 
building  from  which  a  severely  injured 


PREFACE 

person  had  been  rescued,  and  every  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile  would  stand  the  black- 
ened ruins  of  a  house  in  which  some  one 
had  been  burned  to  death. 

Children  are  allowed  to  burn  dry  leaves 
in  the  fall,  and  their  clothing  catches  fire 
from  the  flames;  women  pour  kerosene 
on  the  fire  in  their  kitchen  stoves,  or 
cleanse  clothing  with  gasoline  near  an 
open  blaze;  thoughtless  men  toss  lighted 
cigars  and  cigarettes  into  a  heap  of  rub- 
bish, or  drop  them  from  an  upper  window 
into  an  awning;  the  head  of  a  parlor  match 
flies  into  muslin  draperies;  a  Christmas- 
tree  is  set  on  fire  with  lighted  candles,  or 
a  careless  hunter  starts  a  forest  fire  which 
burns  for  days  and  destroys  valuable 
timber  lands.  There  are  hundreds  of 
different  ways  in  which  fires  are  set.  The 
majority  of  these  fires,  which  cause  great 
loss  of  life  and  property  and  untold  suf- 
fering, are  preventable  by  ordinary 

precaution. 

vi 


PREFACE 

This  little  book  has  been  written  for 
the  special  purpose  of  teaching  children 
how  to  avoid  setting  a  fire,  how  to  extin- 
guish one,  or  how  to  hold  one  in  check 
until  the  arrival  of  help.  Each  story  tells 
how  a  fire  was  started,  how  it  should  have 
been  avoided,  and  how  it  was  put  out: 
Mr.  Brown  Rat  builds  his  nest  with 
matches  which  were  left  around  the 
house;  Careless  Joe  pours  hot  ashes  into 
a  wooden  box;  or  boys  light  a  bonfire  and 
leave  the  hot  embers,  and  then  old  North 
Wind  comes  along  and  has  a  bonfire 
himself. 

At  the  end  of  each  lesson  there  are 
instructions  regarding  the  fire  in  question. 
There  are  also  chapters  on  such  subjects 
as  our  loss  by  forest  fires,  the  work  of  our 
firemen,  common  safeguards  against  fire, 
how  to  act  in  case  the  house  is  on  fire, 
and  first  aid  to  those  who  are  injured  by 
fire,  —  how  to  treat  scalds  and  burns,  how 
to  revive  persons  who  are  suffocated  by 
vii 


PREFACE 

smoke,  etc.  A  thoughtful  reading  of  this 
book  should  make  the  present  generation 
a  more  careful  and  less  destructive  people, 
and  the  entire  country  richer  and  more 
prosperous. 


vm 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PREFACE  v 

BROWNIE'S  MISFORTUNE      ....  1 

"  CARELESS  JOE  " 9 

MAY  DAY 18 

CAMPING  OUT .  30 

THELMA'S  BIRTHDAY 42 

THE  «E.  V.  I.  S." 52 

FOREST  FIRES 61 

PINCH  AND  TEDDY 67 

THE  BUSY  BEES 77 

THE  COUNTY  FAIR    ......  86 

"LITTLE  FAULTS" 98 

TEN  YOUNG  RATS 105 

How  NOT  TO  HAVE  FIRES.     I  .     .  116 

THE  KITCHEN  FIRE 123 

How  NOT  TO  HAVE  FIRES.     II      .  133 
ix 


PREFACE 

smoke,  etc.  A  thoughtful  reading  of  this 
book  should  make  the  present  generation 
a  more  careful  and  less  destructive  people, 
and  the  entire  country  richer  and  more 
prosperous. 


vm 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PREFACE  v 

BROWNIE'S  MISFORTUNE      ....  1 

"  CARELESS  JOE  " 9 

MAY  DAY 18 

CAMPING  OUT .  30 

THELMA'S  BIRTHDAY 42 

THE  «E.  V.  I.  S." 52 

FOREST  FIRES 61 

PINCH  AND  TEDDY 67 

THE  BUSY  BEES 77 

THE  COUNTY  FAIR    ......  86 

"LITTLE  FAULTS" 98 

TEN  YOUNG  RATS 105 

How  NOT  TO  HAVE  FIRES,     I  .     .  116 

THE  KITCHEN  FIRE 123 

How  NOT  TO  HAVE  FIRES.     II      .  133 
ix 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

THE  SUNSHINE  BAND     .     .     .     .     .  140 

VACATION  AT  GRANDPA'S    ....  148 

THE  FIRE  DRILL 159 

FIGHTING  THE  FIRE 169 

VERNON'S  BROTHER 176 

THE  WORLD'S  GREAT  FIRES  .     .     .  184 

NEW  YEAR'S  EVE 189 

CHRISTMAS  CANDLES 200 

WHAT  TO  Do  IN  CASE  OF  FIRE     .  211 

FIRST  AID  216 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Fighting  the  Fire Frontispiece 

The  Flying  Squadron Page  44 

The  horses  are  led  away  to  a  place 

of  safety "  88 

The  horses  gallop  madly  down  the 

street "  102 

In  the  largest  cities  the  firemen  find 

their  hardest  work "  142 

The  water-tower  pours  a  stream  into 

the  upper  windows 172 

Fire  Drill  for  the  Firemen  ....  "  202 
Fire  raging  through  the  deserted 

streets  in  San  Francisco     ...          "        216 


XI 


FIREBRANDS 


BROWNIE'S  MISFORTUNE 

POLLY'S  cage  had  just  been  hung  out 
on  the  back  porch,  and  she  was  tak- 
ing a  sun  bath.     She  ruffled  up  her 
feathers  and  spread  out  her  wings  and  tail. 
She  knew  she  was  pretty,  and  as  the 
sun  brightened  her  plumage,  she  arched 
her   neck,    and   looked   down   at   herself, 
saying    over    and    over,    "Pretty    Polly! 
Polly!  Pretty  Polly!" 

Then  she  threw  back  her  head  and 
laughed  one  of  those  jolly,  contagious 
chuckles  that  made  everyone  laugh  with 
her. 

While  she  sat  there,  talking  and  laugh- 
ing, a  big  brown  rat  came  creeping  up  the 
steps.  Polly  had  often  seen  him  before, 

1 


FIREBRANDS 

for  he  came  to  the  house  every  day  to 
find  something  to  eat;  and  as  he  always 
stopped  to  have  a  chat,  the  two  had  be- 
come good  friends. 

"Good  morning,  Polly,"  said  Mr. 
Brown  Rat.  "You  seem  very  happy  this 
morning." 

"Why  should  n't  I  be  happy?"  replied 
Polly.  "See  how  pretty  I  am.  Besides, 
I  have  nothing  to  do  all  day  but  sit  here 
and  eat  crackers  and  watch  the  people. 
By  the  way,  Brownie,  run  into  the  house 
and  get  me  a  cracker  now." 

"I  can't  get  any  more  crackers,  Polly," 
replied  the  rat.  "The  last  time  I  went  to 
the  pantry  the  crackers  were  in  a  stone 
jar  that  had  a  heavy  cover." 

Polly  ruffled  up  her  feathers,  and  spread 
out  her  wings  so  that  they  would  shine  in 
the  sun. 

"You  are  very  pretty,  Polly,"  said  Mr. 
Brown  Rat,  "but  you  haven't  such  a 
fine  long  tail  as  I  have; "  and  he  spread  it 


BROWNIE'S   MISFORTUNE 

out  on  the  piazza  and  twisted  his  head  to 
look  at  it. 

"Ha,  ha!  you  wait  until  the  cat  gets 
hold  of  it  and  it  won't  be  very  long," 
replied  Polly.  "Why  don't  you  shave  off 
your  whiskers,  Brownie?" 

"I  couldn't  smell  any  cheese  if  I  lost 
my  whiskers,"  said  Brownie.  "And,  be- 
sides, they  make  me  look  dignified  with 
my  family. 

"Polly,  I  am  going  to  build  a  new 
house,"  he  added.  "I  am  tired  of  living 
in  barns  and  stone  walls,  and  I  want  my 
family  together  where  it  is  warm  and 
comfortable.  Do  you  happen  to  know 
where  I  can  find  some  matches?" 

"Why,  yes,"  replied  Polly,  "my  master 
is  very  careless  with  his  matches.  He 
leaves  them  around  loose  wherever  he 
goes.  You  see,  he  does  n't  use  the  matches 
that  have  to  be  struck  on  a  box,  and 
every  time  he  lights  his  pipe  he  scratches 
the  matches  on  anything  that  is  handy. 

3 


FIREBRANDS 

They  are  snapping  and  cracking  all  day 
long.  Sometimes  they  break  off  and  fly 
away,  all  on  fire.  You  can  find  them 
almost  anywhere  in  the  house.  But  what 
do  you  want  to  do  with  matches, 
Brownie?" 

"Well,  you  see,  Polly,  the  little  sticks 
make  a  good  framework  for  my  house. 
The  wood  is  good  to  chew  and  can  be 
made  soft  for  lining  the  nest;  and  the  bits 
of  flint  in  the  head  of  the  match  are  fine 
for  sharpening  and  filing  my  teeth." 

"You  and  your  family  won't  be  able 
to  file  out  of  the  house  if  you  light  one  of 
those  matches  while  you  are  filing  your 
teeth,"  said  Polly,  and  she  gave  another 
of  her  famous  chuckles. 

"I'll  look  out  for  that,"  replied  Mr. 
Brown  Rat,  as  he  scampered  across  the 
piazza. 

"Don't  you  dare  to  build  a  nest  with 
matches  in  my  house,"  Polly  screamed 
after  him;  but  Brownie  slipped  through 
4 


BROWNIE'S   MISFORTUNE 

a  hole  in  the  clapboards  under  the  kitchen 
window  and  did  n't  make  any  promises. 

Polly  did  n't  see  her  friend  again  for 
some  time  and  she  began  to  miss  him. 

One  day  she  heard  her  master  say,  "I 
wonder  what  becomes  of  all  my  matches?" 
and  this  set  her  to  thinking. 

She  sat  still  on  her  perch  for  a  long 
time,  scratching  her  head  with  first  one 
foot  and  then  another.  "  I  believe  Brownie 
is  really  building  his  nest  in  this  house," 
she  said  to  herself  at  last;  "and  he  is 
using  matches,  too,  after  I  told  him 
not  to." 

Then  she  became  very  angry.  She 
screamed  and  bit  the  bars  of  her  cage 
with  her  sharp  bill  until  the  cook  came  out 
and  scolded  her  for  being  so  cross. 

Two  or  three  days  later  Polly  was  hang- 
ing on  the  back  porch  again,  and  the  sun 
was  shining  on  her  feathers.  She  was 
spreading  out  her  wings,  and  cocking  her 
head  on  one  side,  when,  all  of  a  sudden, 

5 


FIREBRANDS 

she  saw  a  thin  curl  of  blue  smoke  creep- 
ing out  between  the  clapboards. 

"Hello!  Help!  Come  in!"  she  screamed. 
"Hello!  Help!  Fire!  Fire!" 

Some  boys  who  were  playing  in  the 
street  came  running  up  to  the  house  at 
the  cry  of  fire. 

"Get  a  move  on!"  cried  Polly,  dancing 
about  in  her  cage  and  trying  her  best  to 
open  the  door. 

"Where's  the  fire?"  asked  one  of  the 
boys. 

"Get  busy!"  screamed  Polly,  as  she 
pulled  herself  up  to  the  top  of  the  cage. 

Just  then  a  wagon  came  tearing  down 
the  street.  "Whoa!"  cried  Polly,  and, 
sure  enough,  the  horses  stopped  in  front 
of  the  house. 

The  driver  saw  the  smoke,  and  he  went 
to  work  in  a  hurry,  tearing  off  the  clap- 
boards, and  showing  the  boys  where  to 
pour  water  in  between  the  walls,  until  the 

fire  was  all  out. 

6 


BROWNIE'S   MISFORTUNE 

When  the  man  had  gone  away,  and 
everything  was  quiet,  Mr.  Brown  Rat 
came  creeping  out  of  the  hole,  wet  and 
bedraggled,  with  his  whiskers  all  burned 
off. 

Polly  caught  sight  of  him  in  a  moment. 
"You  rascal,"  she  screamed,  "you  set 
that  fire.  You  ought  to  know  better  than 
to  build  a  house  with  matches." 

"I  do  now,  and  I'll  never  do  it  again, 
never  again,"  replied  Brownie  meekly,  as 
he  went  limping  away. 

Why  did  the  brown  rat  come  out  on  the 
back  porch? 

How  did  he  build  his  nest? 

Of  what  material  was  it  constructed? 

Why  do  rats  like  matches? 

Why  is  it  dangerous  to  leave  matches 
scattered  around  the  house? 

That  rats  and  mice  are  responsible  for 
many  fires  is  no  longer  doubted.  The 
evidence  has  been  plainly  seen.  Rats 

7 


FIREBRANDS 

and  matches  are  a  dangerous  combina- 
tion. For  this  reason  matches  should  not 
be  scattered  around  the  house. 

In  most  of  the  European  countries  only 
safety  matches  can  be  used;  this  is  one 
reason  for  the  small  number  of  fires  in 
foreign  lands  as  compared  with  those  in 
the  United  States. 


8 


"CARELESS  JOE" 

"T  DIDN'T   mean    to    lose   my   coat, 

JL  Father.     We  boys  were  playing  ball, 

and  I  threw  it  down  on  the  ground 

and  forgot  all  about  it  until  I  got  home. 

Then  I  went  back  for  it  and  it  was  gone. 

Some  thief  had  stolen  it,  I  suppose.     I 

can't  help  it  now,  can  I?" 

"No,  Joe,  of  course  you  can't,"  his 
father  answered;  "but  you  are  always 
doing  something  like  this,  and  I  want  you 
to  learn  to  be  more  careful.  It  is  just  the 
same  with  your  work.  Half  of  it  is  for- 
gotten, and  the  other  half  is  not  well  done. 
I  can't  trust  you  to  do  anything.  You  are 
so  forgetful  and  careless  that  even  your 
school-mates  call  you  'Careless  Joe.'  It 
is  no  wonder  that  your  mother  and  I  are 
discouraged." 

9 


FIREBRANDS 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Patten  were  very  fond  of 
Joe,  who  was  their  only  son,  and  they  did 
everything  they  could  for  his  happiness; 
but  the  boy  had  grown  so  careless  and 
selfish  that  his  father  and  mother  were  at 
their  wits'  end  to  know  what  to  do  with 
him. 

As  for  Joe,  he  was  a  pleasant-faced, 
good-hearted,  jolly  boy;  but  his  parents 
knew  that  this  one  bad  habit  of  careless- 
ness would  soon  spoil  him  if  it  were  not 
corrected.  They  had  done  everything 
they  could  to  help  him  overcome  his 
fault,  but  he  only  seemed  to  grow  more 
careless  every  day. 

Finally  Mr.  Patten  said  to  his  wife, 
"Let's  send  Joe  to  visit  Grandfather 
Knight.  He  knows  how  to  manage  boys 
pretty  well." 

Of  course  Joe  was  delighted  when  he 
heard  of  the  plan,  for  who  ever  saw  a  boy 
who  did  n't  like  to  visit  his  grandfather? 

Mrs.  Patten  wrote  to  Grandma  Knight 
10 


"CARELESS   JOE" 

about  Joe's  bad  habit,  which  was  giving 
them  so  much  trouble;  and  the  two  old 
people  talked  it  all  over  and  felt  sure  that 
they  would  know  what  to  do  when  the 
time  came. 

"I'll  keep  the  boy  so  busy  that  he  won't 
have  any  time  to  forget,"  said  his  grand- 
father. "There  is  always  plenty  of  work 
on  a  farm  for  a  good  boy." 

"He  can  help  me,  too,"  added  Grandma. 
"I'll  pay  him  with  cookies;"  and  she 
hurried  out  to  the  kitchen  to  make  a  big 
jarful  of  the  round  sugar  cookies  that  Joe 
liked  best. 

Joe  was  delighted  with  everything  on 
the  farm,  and  for  several  days  he  did  very 
well. 

"He  isn't  such  a  bad  boy  after  all," 
Grandpa  told  Grandma  when  Joe  had 
gone  upstairs  to  bed  one  night. 

But  the  very  next  morning  he  gave  Joe 
a  bucket  of  grain  to  feed  the  hens,  and  in 
the  afternoon  he  found  the  bucket  in  the 
11 


FIREBRANDS 

barn,  still  full  of  grain.  When  he  spoke 
to  Joe  about  it,  the  boy  answered  care- 
lessly, "Oh,  yes,  I  did  forget  it;  but  it 
won't  matter  much,  will  it?  Hens  can't 
tell  the  time  of  day." 

"I  suppose  not,"  his  grandfather  re- 
plied; "but  I  don't  believe  they  like  to 
go  hungry  any  better  than  you  do." 

The  next  night  Joe  went  to  the  pasture 
to  get  the  cows,  and  came  home  driving 
nine,  when  he  knew  very  well  that  his 
grandfather  had  ten.  He  never  noticed 
the  difference  until  Grandpa  spoke  to  him 
about  it,  and  then  he  seemed  to  care  so 
little  that  the  good  old  man  began  to 
think  Joe  one  of  the  most  careless  boys 
he  ever  saw. 

Two  or  three  days  later  Mr.  Knight 
went  to  market,  leaving  Joe  to  feed  the 
horses  at  noon.  When  he  reached  home 
at  night,  the  horses  had  not  been  fed,  and 
Joe  said  he  did  n't  think  they  would  mind 
going  without  one  dinner. 


"CARELESS  JOE" 

Grandma  Knight  heard  this  remark, 
and  she  decided  that  it  was  about  time 
for  Joe  to  have  a  lesson.  When  the  boy 
came  in  to  supper,  feeling  very  hungry 
after  a  good  game  of  ball,  there  sat  his 
grandmother  knitting  a  stocking. 

He  glanced  around  the  kitchen  in  sur- 
prise. "My  stomach  feels  pretty  empty," 
he  said;  "but  I  don't  see  anything  to  eat. 
Isn't  it  almost  supper-time?" 

"Yes,  my  boy,"  his  grandmother  an- 
swered, with  a  twinkle  in  her  eye,  "it  is 
supper-time;  but  I  thought  you  would  n't 
mind  going  without  one  supper,  so  I 
did  n't  get  any  to-night." 

Joe  frowned  and  hung  his  head.  He 
knew  very  well  what  his  grandmother 
meant,  and  things  went  a  little  better  for 
a  day  or  two;  but  the  boy  soon  fell  back 
into  his  old  tricks. 

Every  morning  Joe  emptied  the  ashes 
from  the  kitchen  stove  for  his  grand- 
mother. Grandpa  Knight  had  told  him 
13 


FIREBRANDS 

over  and  over  again  never  to  empty  them 
until  they  were  cool,  and  always  to  put 
them  in  an  iron  barrel  that  stood  in  the 
shed. 

One  morning  Joe  went  as  usual  to  empty 
the  ashes,  which  happened  to  have  a  good 
many  live  coals  in  them.  The  iron  barrel 
was  full,  but  Joe  was  in  a  hurry  to  get  away 
for  a  game  of  ball.  He  could  n't  bother  to 
empty  the  barrel,  and  he  surely  could  n't 
wait  for  the  ashes  to  cool,  so  he  tipped 
them  into  a  wooden  box,  live  coals  and  all, 
and  ran  off  to  his  game. 

Grandma  Knight  was  making  another 
big  batch  of  cookies,  and  it  was  not 
long  before  she  began  to  smell  smoke. 
She  looked  all  around  the  stove,  but 
she  could  n't  find  anything  that  was 
burning. 

"It  must  be  some  paper  I  threw  into  the 
fire,"  she  said  to  herself,  and  she  went 
on  with  her  baking. 

But  the  smell  of  smoke  grew  stronger 
14 


"CARELESS  JOE" 

and  stronger,  and  when  she  came  out  of 
the  pantry  to  slip  the  first  pan  of  cookies 
into  the  oven,  she  could  see  a  thin  blue 
haze  in  the  kitchen. 

"The  house  is  on  fire!"  she  cried,  and 
she  ran  down  cellar  and  upstairs  as  fast 
as  she  could  go,  opening  all  the  doors  and 
looking  in  all  the  closets  to  find  out  what 
was  burning. 

On  her  way  through  the  hall  she  caught 
up  a  fire-extinguisher;  but  she  could  n't 
find  a  sign  of  the  fire  anywhere.  At  last 
she  ran  out  through  the  shed  to  call 
Grandpa  Knight  from  the  barn,  and  there 
was  the  wooden  box  blazing  merrily,  and 
sending  little  tongues  of  hot  flame  across 
the  floor. 

It  took  only  a  few  minutes  to  put  out 
the  fire  with  the  fire-extinguisher  which 
she  still  held  in  her  hand;  but  when 
Grandpa  came  into  the  house  a  few 
minutes  later,  there  was  Grandma  Knight 
sitting  beside  the  kitchen  table,  holding 
15 


FIREBRANDS 

a  pan  of  black  cookies,  with  tears  running 
down  her  wrinkled  cheeks. 

"I  never  burned  a  cooky  before  in  all 
my  life,"  she  said,  trying  to  smile  through 
the  tears;  "but  I  couldn't  let  the  house 
burn  down!"  and  then,  all  trembling  with 
excitement,  she  told  about  the  fire  in  the 
shed,  and  the  box  of  hot  ashes. 

When  Careless  Joe  came  home  to  dinner 
there  was  a  pan  of  burned  cookies  beside 
his  plate,  and  that  afternoon  he  had  a  talk 
with  his  grandfather  which  he  never  forgot. 

From  that  day  he  really  did  try  to  over-: 
come  his  careless,  selfish  ways,  and  to  be 
more  thoughtful  and  manly.  He  had 
learned  that  fire  is  not  to  be  trifled  with, 
and  that  a  boy  must  always  have  his  mind 
on  his  work. 

Why  was  this  boy  called  "Careless  Joe"  ? 
In  what  way  was  he  careless? 
What  lesson  did  his  grandmother  teach 
him? 

16 


"CARELESS  JOE" 

What  happened  which  taught  him  a 
more  serious  lesson? 

How  should  ashes  be  cared  for? 

What  kind  of  a  barrel  should  they  be  kept 
in? 

What  should  be  done  with  rubbish  and 
waste  paper? 

Ashes  should  never  be  kept  in  wooden 
barrels  or  boxes,  but  in  iron  barrels  or 
brick  bins.  There  should  never  be  an 
ash-heap  against  a  fence  or  near  the  side 
of  a  house.  Paper  and  rubbish  should  not 
be  mixed  with  ashes,  but  kept  in  a  separate 
barrel. 

Cellars  and  basements  should  be  clean, 
orderly,  and  well-lighted.  Rubbish  is  a 
fire-breeder,  and  may  be  the  means  of 
destroying  your  home. 


17 


MAY  DAY 

IT  was  May  Day,  and  all  the  children 
who  went  to  school  in  the  little  brick 
schoolhouse   at  the   foot   of   the   hill 
were  going  "Maying." 

Every  sunny  morning  in  April  they  had 
begged  their  teacher  to  go  with  them  to 
the  woods  to  gather  flowers;  but  Miss 
Heath  kept  telling  them  to  wait  until  the 
days  were  a  little  warmer,  and  the  woods 
less  damp. 

"By  the  first  of  May,"  she  said,  "there 
will  be  ever  so  many  more  flowers.  If 
May  Day  is  bright  and  sunny  we  will 
have  no  school,  —  except  the  school  of  the 
woods,  no  lessons  but  those  the  birds  and 
flowers  teach  us.  Wear  your  oldest  clothes, 
and  don't  forget  your  lunches.  You  will 
be  as  hungry  as  squirrels  when  you  have 
played  out  of  doors  all  the  morning." 
18 


MAY  DAY 

The  first  morning  in  May  was  warm 
and  sunny  enough  to  make  everyone  long 
to  spend  the  whole  day  in  the  woods. 

At  half-past  eight  all  the  pupils  in  Miss 
Heath's  school  were  at  the  schoolhouse 
door,  eager  for  the  Maying.  There  were 
only  sixteen  of  them,  and  they  were  of  all 
ages,  from  five  to  fourteen,  for  the  little 
brick  schoolhouse  was  in  the  country,  far 
away  from  the  graded  city  schools. 

The  mothers  had  not  forgotten  the 
lunches,  and  it  was  a  happy  band  of  boys 
and  girls  that  set  off  at  nine  o'clock  for 
the  woods.  They  climbed  the  hill  and 
followed  a  cart-path  until  they  came  to  a 
shady  hollow  where  a  tiny  brook  rippled 
over  its  stony  bed. 

"We'll  stay  here  for  a  little  while  and 
watch  the  birds,"  said  Miss  Heath.  "Sit 
down  under  this  pine  tree,  and  keep  as 
still  as  mice  until  you  have  seen  five  dif- 
ferent birds." 

Joe  Thorpe  saw  the  first  one,  —  a  robin 
19 


FIREBRANDS 

that  came  down  to  the  brook  for  a  drink 
of  water.  Alice  Fletcher  caught  sight  of 
a  black  and  white  warbler  that  was  hopping 
about  in  the  pine  tree,  and  Grace  Atkins 
pointed  out  a  woodpecker  that  was  rapping 
011  the  trunk  of  an  old  oak. 

A  golden  oriole  flew  to  the  top  of  a  tall 
elm  and  called  down  to  them,  "Look, 
look,  look!  Look  up  here!  Look  up  here! 
Look  up  here!"  But  the  fifth  bird  was 
hard  to  find.  They  had  almost  given  him 
up  when  Miss  Heath  held  up  her  hand. 
"Listen!"  she  whispered,  and  in  a  moT 
ment  a  song  sparrow  that  had  lighted  in 
a  little  bush  near  by  sang  them  his  sweet- 
est song,  —  sang  it  over  and  over,  with 
his  head  held  high  and  his  tiny  throat 
swelling  with  the  music. 

"There  are  the  five  birds,"  said  Miss 
Heath,  when  the  song  sparrow  flew  away; 
"now  for  our  flowrers!"  and  she  jumped 
up  and  led  the  way  across  the  brook 
and  down  a  gentle  slope  toward  an  old 
20 


MAY  DAY 

pasture  that  was  half  overgrown  with 
underbrush. 

"You  must  notice  all  the  different  shades 
of  green  in  the  new  leaves  on  the  trees, 
with  the  yellows  and  reds  on  the  bushes," 
she  said,  as  they  stood  looking  across  the 
pasture.  "There  are  almost  as  many 
colors  among  the  trees  in  the  spring  as 
there  are  in  the  fall,  but  they  are  not  so 
brilliant. 

"Now,  run  and  look  for  flowers,"  she 
added,  when  they  had  climbed  over  a 
stone  wall  and  found  a  narrow  foot-path 
across  the  pasture.  "I  will  wait  here, 
under  this  chestnut  tree,  and  you  can 
come  back  when  you  are  ready;  but  if  I 
call,  you  must  come  at  once.  It  will  be 
lunch-time  almost  before  you  know  it." 

That  old  pasture  was  a  splendid  place 
to  find  spring  flowers,  and  the  children 
scattered  in  all  directions,  by  twos  and 
threes,  peeping  under  bushes  and  poking 
away  dead  leaves  to  hunt  for  sprays  of 
21 


FIREBRANDS 

arbutus,  or  Mayflowers  as  they  always 
called  them. 

Grace  and  Alice  found  some  beautiful 
clusters  of  the  fragrant  pink  and  white 
blossoms,  but  poor  little  Joe  Thorpe 
did  n't  have  good  luck  at  all,  so  he  wan- 
dered off  by  himself  to  look  for  hepaticas. 

He  found  them,  too,  among  the  rocks 
at  the  farther  end  of  the  field,  blue  ones 
and  white  ones,  and  some  that  were  pink 
and  lavender;  and  when  he  had  picked  a 
good  handful  for  Miss  Heath,  he  saw 
some  "spring  beauties,"  white  blossoms 
striped  with  pink  that  swayed  gently  on 
their  slender  stems. 

Just  then  he  heard  the  call  to  lunch, 
and  although  he  hurried  back  to  the  big 
chestnut  tree  he  found  all  the  children 
there  before  him,  their  hands  filled  with 
flowers.  There  were  bunches  of  blue 
violets  and  white  violets,  hepaticas  and 
spring  beauties.  One  girl  had  found 
yellow  adder's  tongues  with  their  spotted 


MAY  DAY 

leaves,  and  a  boy  brought  a  Jack-in-the- 
pulpit,  standing  up  stiff  and  straight  to 
preach  its  little  sermon. 

After  Miss  Heath  had  admired  all  the 
flowers,  and  had  sent  three  of  the  boys 
back  to  the  brook  for  water,  the  children 
opened  the  baskets  and  spread  their  lunch 
on  newspaper  tablecloths. 

Then  what  a  merry  picnic  they  had! 
They  exchanged  cakes  and  cookies,  gin- 
gerbread and  doughnuts.  They  shared 
pickles  and  apples,  and  divided  turnovers 
and  saucer  pies,  —  and  they  all  picked 
out  the  very  best  of  everything  for  Miss 
Heath,  until  she  laughingly  declared  that 
she  could  n't  eat  another  single  mouthful. 

After  lunch  they  told  stories  and  played 
games,  until,  all  at  once,  the  teacher  noticed 
that  the  sun  had  hidden  his  face  behind 
a  heavy  cloud. 

"I  am  afraid  it  is  going  to  rain,"  she 
said;  "we  must  hurry  home." 

But  even  before  the  children  could 
23 


FIREBRANDS 

gather  up  their  baskets  and  flowers,  the 
big  rain-drops  began  to  patter  down  on 
their  heads. 

"I  don't  care,"  said  Little  Joe  Thorpe. 
"It  is  nothing  but  an  April  shower." 

"April  showers  bring  Mayflowers!" 
quoted  Grace  and  Alice,  and  then  they 
held  their  thumbs  together  and  wished, 
because  they  had  both  said  just  the  same 
thing  at  just  the  same  moment. 

"They  bring  wet  dresses,  too,"  said 
Miss  Heath;  "and  not  one  of  us  has  an 
umbrella.  Let's  run  over  to  that  little 
pine  grove  and  play  the  trees  are  umbrellas. 
That's  what  the  birds  do  when  it  rains." 

The  children  ran  down  the  narrow  path 
and  gathered  under  the  spreading  branches 
of  the  pines,  and  the  trees  held  out  their 
arms  and  tried  to  keep  them  dry.  But 
the  rain-drops  came  down  faster  and 
faster,  and  it  was  not  long  before  the  little 
girls'  cotton  dresses  were  wet  through. 

As  soon  as  the  shower  was  over  Miss 
£4 


MAY   DAY 

Heath  said,  "Now  you  must  run  home 
as  fast  as  you  can,  and  put  on  dry 
clothing.  I  don't  want  any  one  to  catch 
cold  when  we  have  had  such  a  happy 
day  together." 

So  away  the  children  scampered,  some 
in  one  direction,  some  in  another.  At  the 
foot  of  the  hill  Alice  stopped  suddenly 
and  said  to  Grace,  "My  mother  will  not 
be  at  home.  She  was  going  to  the  village 
this  afternoon  to  do  some  marketing." 

"Come  to  my  house,"  said  Grace. 
"You  can  put  on  one  of  my  dresses  while 
yours  is  getting  dry." 

When  they  reached  Grace's  house  her 
mother  was  not  at  home,  either;  but 
Grace  found  the  key  to  the  back  door 
behind  the  window-blind,  and  the  two 
little  girls  went  into  the  kitchen. 

Then  they  took  off  their  wet  dresses 
and  put  on  dry  ones,  and  Grace  climbed 
up  in  a  chair  to  hang  Alice's  dress  on  the 
clothes-bars  over  the  stove. 
25 


FIREBRANDS 

"It  will  not  dry  very  fast  until  we  open 
the  dampers  and  let  the  fire  burn  up,"  she 
said;  so  she  opened  both  dampers  wide, 
and  then  took  Alice  up  to  the  play -room 
to  see  the  new  doll  which  her  aunt  had 
sent  her  for  a  birthday  gift.  The  doll 
had  a  whole  trunkful  of  dresses,  coats, 
hats,  and  shoes,  and  the  two  little  girls 
had  such  a  good  time  trying  them  on  that 
they  forgot  all  about  the  kitchen  stove. 

Suddenly  Grace  cried,  "I  can  smell 
smoke,  Alice.  Something  is  burning!" 

"It  must  be  my  dress,"  exclaimed  Alice, 
jumping  up  and  running  down  the  back 
stairs. 

She  opened  the  kitchen  door  just  in 
time  to  see  the  dress  burst  into  flames. 
"Oh,  what  shall  we  do?"  she  cried.  "My 
dress  is  on  fire!  Put  it  out!  Put  it  out! 
Quick!  Quick!" 

"I  can't!"  screamed  Grace.  "Oh, 
Mother!  Mother!  Come  home!  Come 
home!" 

26 


MAY  DAY 

Just  then  a  man,  who  was  driving  by 
with  a  load  of  wood,  saw  the  flames 
through  the  window  and  came  running  in 
to  see  what  was  the  matter.  He  snatched 
the  burning  dress  from  the  clothes-bars, 
threw  it  into  the  sink,  and  pumped  water 
over  it  to  put  out  the  fire. 

Then  he  closed  the  dampers  in  the  stove, 
which  was  now  red  hot,  and  opened  the 
windows  at  the  top  to  let  out  the  smoke; 
while  all  the  time  the  two  little  girls  stood 
in  the  middle '  of  the  floor,  sobbing  and 
crying. 

"That  was  a  very  careless  thing  to  do," 
said  the  man,  when  at  last  they  told  him 
how  the  dress  happened  to  catch  fire. 
"You  should  never  hang  anything  over 
the  stove.  Tell  your  mother  to  take  down 
those  clothes-bars  this  very  afternoon,  and 
put  them  on  the  other  side  of  the  kitchen; 
and  remember  never  to  go  out  of  the  room 
again  when  you  have  started  up  the  fire. 
A  red-hot  stove  will  sometimes  set  wood- 
27 


FIREBRANDS 

work  on  fire,  even  if  there  is  n't  a  cotton 
dress  near  by  to  help  it  along." 

"I  don't  believe  I  shall  forget  it  very 
soon,"  said  Grace,  as  she  lifted  the  handful 
of  wet  black  rags  out  of  the  sink. 

"Nor  I,"  cried  Alice.  "I  am  glad  Miss 
Heath  told  us  to  wear  our  old  clothes." 

"And  I  am  glad  that  I  came  along 
before  you  set  the  house  on  fire,"  said  the 
man.  "Don't  ever  try  to  dry  wet  clothes 
in  a  hurry  again." 

Then  he  went  out  and  climbed  up  on 
his  load  of  wood,  muttering  to  himself, 
"That's  what  comes  of  leaving  children 
alone  in  the  house.  They  are  never  satis- 
fied unless  they  are  lighting  matches  or 
starting  a  fire." 

Why  did  Grace  hang  the  dress  over  the 
stove? 

How  did  it  catch  fire? 
What  material  was  the  dress  made  of? 
Would  a  woollen  dress  burn  as  easily? 
28 


MAY  DAY 

Damp  clothing,  or  clothes  that  have 
just  been  ironed,  should  never  be  hung 
over  a  hot  stove,  for,  as  the  moisture 
dries  out,  the  clothes  quickly  ignite. 
Clothes-bars  or  a  clothes-line  should  never 
be  hung  over  a  stove,  and  a  clothes-horse 
should  not  be  set  too  near  it.  Many  fires 
have  resulted  from  an  overloaded  clothes- 
horse  falling  on  a  hot  stove,  especially 
when  there  was  no  one  in  the  kitchen 
to  watch  it. 

Children  should  never  be  permitted  to 
open  the  dampers  of  a  stove,  or  to  have 
anything  whatever  to  do  with  the  kitchen 
fire.  They  should  not  set  a  kettle  on  the 
stove  or  take  one  off,  and  they  should  be 
cautioned  against  climbing  into  a  chair 
near  the  stove,  as  they  might  fall  and  be 
badly  burned. 


CAMPING  OUT 

rwas  one  of  those  hot  drowsy  days  in 
Fuly.      School   had   been    closed    two 
weeks,  and  Dean  and  Gordon  Rand 
were  already  wondering  how  they  could 
ever  spend  the  rest  of  the  long  vacation  in 
their  little  home  in  the  city  of  Boston. 

To  be  sure  there  were  plenty  of  books 
filled  with  charming  stories  of  brooks  and 
pine  woods;  but  reading  only  made  the 
boys  wish  they  might  go  to  the  real  country 
instead  of  sitting  at  home  in  a  hot  stuffy 
house,  reading  about  it  in  a  story-book. 

One  night  the  two  brothers  went  as 
usual  to  meet  their  father  when  he  came 
home  from  work.  His  tired  face  wore  a 
happy  smile,  and  they  knew  at  once  that 
something  pleasant  had  happened. 

"What  is  it,  Father?    Do  tell  us!"   the 
30 


CAMPING    OUT 

boys  cried  in  one  voice.  Their  faces  were 
so  eager  that  it  was  really  hard  for  Mr. 
Rand  to  say,  "Wait,  my  boys,  until  we 
reach  home.  Then  your  mother  can  share 
the  good  news  with  us." 

Mrs.  Rand  was  looking  out  of  the 
window  as  the  boys  danced  up  the  front 
walk,  each  holding  one  of  their  father's 
hands.  They  pulled  him  along  in  their 
haste  to  hear  the  news,  and  she,  too, 
guessed  that  something  pleasant  had 
happened. 

Father  said  that  boys  could  n't  half 
enjoy  good  news  with  dirty  hands  and 
faces,  so  it  was  not  until  soap  and  water 
had  made  them  clean  and  shining  that  he 
took  from  his  pocket  a  letter  from  good 
jolly  Uncle  Joe  who  lived  among  the  hills 
of  Vermont. 

"Here  is  your  news,"  he  said.     "I  will 

read  aloud  the  part  of  the  letter  that  will 

interest   you.      Now,    listen!     Uncle   Joe 

says:    'Why  not  let  those  boys  of  yours 

31 


FIREBRANDS 

come  up  and  go  camping  with  me  this 
summer?  I  am  going  to  pitch  my  tent 
in  the  woods  near  Silver  Lake,  and  I  ex- 
pect to  have  good  fishing  and  hunting. 
Send  the  youngsters  along  as  soon  as  they 
are  ready.  I  will  take  care  of  them,  and 
give  them  a  rollicking  good  time." 

The  boys  were  so  delighted  that  they 
could  hardly  wait  for  Mother  to  get  their 
clothes  ready,  and  for  Father  to  write  to 
Uncle  Joe  and  tell  him  when  and  where 
to  meet  them. 

At  last  the  day  arrived  when  they  were 
to  take  the  train  for  Vermont.  Their 
trunk  was  carefully  packed,  and  they  were 
as  clean  and  fresh  as  Mother's  loving 
hands  could  make  them. 

It  was  a  long  ride,  but  there  was  so 
much  to  see  every  minute  that  the  time 
passed  quickly.  At  noon  they  opened 
the  box  of  lunch  Mother  had  put  up  for 
them.  When  they  saw  the  sandwiches 
and  the  little  cakes  and  apple  turnovers, 
32 


CAMPING    OUT 

there  was  a  lump  in  their  throats  for  a 
few  minutes. 

The  conductor  came  along  just  then,  to 
tell  them  they  were  crossing  the  Connecti- 
cut, and  in  their  eagerness  to  catch  their 
first  glimpse  of  the  great  river  they  forgot 
all  about  being  homesick. 

Uncle  Joe  met  them  at  the  station.  He 
gave  them  each  a  hearty  hand-shake  and 
a  big  hug.  Then  he  lifted  them  up  on  the 
seat  of  a  wagon,  and  put  their  trunk  in 
behind,  with  ever  so  many  other  boxes 
and  bundles. 

It  was  not  far  to  the  shore  of  the  little 
lake.  Uncle  Joe  soon  had  all  the  provi- 
sions stowed  away  in  a  large  flat-bottomed 
boat,  and  it  did  not  take  long  to  row  across 
to  the  tents  on  the  opposite  side. 

Do  you  suppose  a  supper  ever  tasted 
better  to  hungry  boys  than  that  one  of 
fried  trout  just  caught  from  the  lake, 
with  bread  and  butter,  and  fresh  berries 
and  cream?  Uncle  Joe  served  them  gen- 


FIREBRANDS 

erously,  too,  —  just  as  if  he  knew  all  about 
a  boy's  appetite! 

After  supper  they  were  so  tired  with  all 
the  excitement  of  the  day  that  they  were 
content  to  sit  quietly  on  the  little  sandy 
beach,  watching  the  sunset  and  the  chang- 
ing colors  in  the  clouds.  There  were  lovely 
shadows  on  the  purple  hills,  and  dim 
reflections  of  the  trees  and  sky  in  the 
smooth  surface  of  the  lake.  How  much 
better  it  was  than  all  the  noise  and  con- 
fusion of  the  city  streets ! 

It  was  not  long  before  the  boys  were 
sleepy,  and  Uncle  Joe  went  with  them  to 
see  that  everything  was  all  right  in  their 
tent.  When  they  saw  the  bed  they  were 
a  little  uncertain  as  to  whether  they  would 
like  it.  It  was  nothing  but  a  great  heap  of 
fir-balsam  boughs,  covered  over  with  two 
heavy  blankets,  and  it  did  n't  look  very 
comfortable;  but  when  they  had  tried  it 
a  few  moments  the  boys  pronounced  it  the 
softest,  sweetest  bed  they  ever  slept  in. 
34 


CAMPING    OUT 

Morning  found  them  rested  and  ready 
for  camp  life.  Uncle  Joe  took  them  out 
fishing,  and  let  them  row  the  boat  home. 
Then  they  put  on  their  bathing  suits  and 
he  gave  them  a  swimming-lesson.  After 
dinner  they  went  for  a  long  walk  and  he 
taught  them  to  watch  for  birds  and 
squirrels. 

They  had  never  dreamed  that  the  woods 
could  be  half  so  interesting,  or  hold  so 
many  different  things.  They  enjoyed 
every  minute  of  the  day;  and  the  next 
day,  and  the  next,  it  was  just  the  same. 
They  never  had  to  stop  and  ask,  "What 
shall  we  do  now  ? ' '  There  was  always  some- 
thing to  do,  even  before  they  had  time  to 
do  it. 

They  met  several  other  boys,  about 
their  own  age,  who  were  living  in  a  camp 
farther  up  the  lake.  These  boys  often 
joined  them  in  their  picnics  and  excur- 
sions, and  the  time  was  too  short  for  all 
they  found  to  do. 


FIREBRANDS 

But  they  did  one  thing  that  came  very 
near  spoiling  the  fun  of  that  happy  va- 
cation in  the  woods. 

One  night  Uncle  Joe  stayed  out  fishing 
a  little  later  than  usual,  leaving  his  nephews 
alone  in  the  camp.  The  other  boys  came 
down  to  visit  them,  and  one  of  them  sug- 
gested that  it  would  be  great  fun  to  build  a 
camp-fire. 

Dean,  who  was  always  a  cautious  lad, 
feared  it  was  not  just  the  right  thing  to 
do,  without  his  uncle's  permission;  but 
at  last  he  gave  in  to  the  other  boys. 

Broken  boughs  and  bark  were  quickly 
piled  up,  a  match  was  lighted  to  kindle 
the  fire,  and  in  a  few  minutes  the  flames 
were  leaping  over  the  dry  wood.  The 
boys  were  delighted  with  their  bon- 
fire, and  they  ran  here  and  there  among 
the  trees  collecting  more  fuel  for  the 
flames. 

Suddenly  they  began  to  realize  that  the 
fire  was  spreading.  It  had  run  along 
36 


CAMPING    OUT 

through  the  dry  grass  and  pine  needles, 
and  the  wind  was  blowing  it  straight 
toward  the  woods,  where  they  had  had 
so  many  good  times,  and  where  their 
friends  the  birds  and  squirrels  had  their 
homes. 

At  first  the  boys  thought  they  could 
put  out  the  fire  with  pails  of  water;  but 
they  soon  saw  that  it  was  beyond  their 
control,  and  they  stood  still,  too  frightened 
to  do  anything  but  scream. 

Their  cries  brought  Uncle  Joe,  and 
some  fishermen  from  the  other  camps,  to 
fight  the  fire,  and  for  more  than  an  hour 
the  men  worked  valiantly.  They  chopped 
off  great  green  branches  and  beat  out  the 
flames,  they  threw  on  buckets  of  sand 
from  the  beach,  they  chopped  down  trees 
and  made  a  broad  path  in  front  of  the  fire, 
and  finally  they  dug  a  trench  to  keep  it 
from  running  along  the  grass. 

At  last  the  fire  was  declared  to  be  all 
out;  but  it  was  not  until  the  men's  hands 
37 


FIREBRANDS 

were  blistered,  and  their  faces  burned  and 
blackened  with  the  smoke.  This  was  not 
the  worst  of  it,  however,  for  nearly  an 
acre  of  valuable  timber  had  been  de- 
stroyed, and  the  dead  trees  held  out  their 
stiff  leafless  branches  like  ghosts  of  the 
beautiful  pines  and  firs  that  had  stood 
there  in  the  sunshine  that  very  day. 

The  boys  went  back  to  their  camps 
very  soberly.  How  their  hearts  ached  at 
the  mischief  they  had  done!  They  could 
think  of  nothing,  talk  of  nothing,  but  the 
fire.  Dean  and  Gordon  sobbed  them- 
selves to  sleep,  feeling  sure  that  Uncle 
Joe  would  send  them  both  home  in  the 
morning. 

But  the  next  day  good,  kind  Uncle  Joe, 
whom  everyone  loved,  called  the  boys 
around  him  and  gave  them  a  long  talk 
about  forest  fires. 

He  told  them  he  hoped  this  experience 
would  teach  them  never  to  build  a  fire 
anywhere  unless  men  were  near  to  guard 
38 


CAMPING   OUT 

it  carefully,  and  not  even  then  if  the  grass 
were  very  dry,  or  there  was  the  least 
breath  of  wind  to  carry  the  flames  and 
sparks. 

He  explained  that  thousands  of  dollars' 
worth  of  property  might  have  been  de- 
stroyed, and  possibly  lives  might  have 
been  lost  by  their  carelessness.  He  told 
them  stories  of  the  terrible  forest  fires 
that  have  raged  for  days  in  the  timber 
lands  of  the  Northwest.  When  at  last 
he  asked  for  their  promises,  the  boys  gave 
them  readily,  for  they  had  learned  how 
very  dangerous  a  fire  can  be;  and  for  the 
rest  of  that  summer,  at  least,  there  was  n't 
another  bonfire  at  Silver  Lake. 

Why  did  Dean  hesitate  to  start  a  fire 
when  his  uncle  was  away? 

If  the  boughs  had  been  green  or  wet  would 
they  have  burned  as  quickly? 

Did  you  ever  see  a  fire  in  the  grass  or 
woodsy  running  along  like  a  race-horse? 
39 


FIREBRANDS 

How  do  you  think  these  fires  are  started? 
Why    are  fires   most    dangerous   in    the 
summer  and  fall? 

Forest  fires  are  started  from  bonfires, 
by  hunters,  campers,  fishermen,  or  lum- 
bermen, or  by  mischievous  and  careless 
persons.  Fires  should  never  be  started 
unless  the  ground  is  cleared  around  them, 
and  at  a  safe  distance  from  any  building 
or  woods.  They  should  never  be  left 
unguarded. 

Forest  fires  have  become  so  serious  that 
many  states  have  appointed  Fire  Wardens, 
whose  duty  it  is  to  patrol  the  forests. 

Watch  towers  have  been  erected,  from 
which  observations  are  taken,  and  in  case 
of  fire,  alarm  is  spread  by  means  of  a 
telephone  system. 

In  some  countries  avenues,  equal  in 
width  to  the  height  of  the  tallest  tree, 
are  cut  through  the  forests  at  intervals  of 
half  a  mile. 

40 


CAMPING   OUT 

These  avenues  afford  a  fire-barrier  and 
standing  ground  for  the  firemen  to  fight 
the  flames. 

With  the  many  acres  of  valuable  timber 
destroyed  by  fire  every  year,  and  the 
indiscriminate  cutting  of  trees  by  the 
lumbermen,  our  forests  are  fast  disap- 
pearing. Children  should  be  encouraged 
to  observe  Arbor  Day,  and  to  plant  trees, 
so  that  the  custom  may  become  more 
general,  and  the  forests  be  renewed. 


41 


THELMA'S  BIRTHDAY 

THELMA  was  a  little  Fourth-of-July 
girl,  —  at  least  that  was  what  her 
father   always   called   her,    for   her 
birthday  came   on   the  glorious   Fourth, 
the  day  to  which  all  the  children  in  the 
United  States  look  forward,  just  as  they 
do  to  Thanksgiving  and  Christmas. 

Thelma  did  not  have  any  brothers  or 
sisters,  but  she  had  ever  so  many  friends 
and  playmates;  and  besides,  there  was 
Rover,  —  the  best  playmate  of  all,  —  good, 
kind,  loving  Rover,  who  followed  his  little 
mistress  like  a  shadow  all  day  long. 

The  Fourth  of  July  was  Rover's  birth- 
day, too;  but  he  never  looked  forward  to 
it  with  the  least  bit  of  pleasure.  When 
the  horns  were  tooting,  the  bells  were 
ringing,  and  the  fire-crackers  were  snap- 
42 


THELMA'S   BIRTHDAY 

ping,  you  would  always  find  Rover  under 
Thelma's  bed,  with  his  head  on  his  paws, 
and  his  eyes  shut  tight.  I  believe  he  would 
have  put  cotton  in  his  ears,  too,  if  he  had 
only  known  that  it  would  help  to  keep  out 
the  dreadful  noise. 

Of  course  no  one  had  ever  told  Rover 
about  the  Fourth  of  July,  and  he  did  n't 
understand  at  all  why  bells  were  rung 
and  cannon  were  fired,  and  why  everyone 
was  eager  to  celebrate  the  day. 

But  Thelma  knew  all  about  it.  She  was 
eleven  years  old,  and  she  had  often  read 
the  story  in  her  reading-books  at  school. 
When  her  father  took  her  on  his  knee, 
and  helped  her  a  little  now  and  then  with 
questions,  she  told  just  how  it  happened. 

"You  see,"  she  said,  "when  the  white 
men  first  came  to  this  country  they  formed 
thirteen  colonies;  but  they  were  ruled  by 
the  King  of  England,  who  often  treated 
them  unjustly. 

"They  bore  their  troubles  patiently  for 
43 


FIREBRANDS 

a  long  time,  but  finally  they  were  forced 
to  pay  such  heavy  taxes  that  they  rebelled. 
Then  they  decided  to  break  away  from 
English  rule  and  be  free  and  independent 
states. 

"Thomas  Jefferson  wrote  a  paper  de- 
claring their  independence,  and  men  from 
each  of  the  thirteen  colonies  signed  it. 
This  paper  was  called  the  'Declaration 
of  Independence,'  and  it  was  read  from 
the  balcony  of  the  State  House  in  Phila- 
delphia, before  a  great  crowd  of  people,  on 
July  4,  1776. 

"Bells  were  rung  to  spread  the  good 
news,  and  ever  since  that  time  the  Fourth 
of  July  has  been  celebrated  as  the  birthday 
of  the  United  States  of  America." 

"And  what  shall  we  do  this  year  to 
celebrate  all  these  birthdays?"  her  father 
asked,  when  Thelma  finished  her  story. 

"Let's  give  a  party,"  replied  the  little 
girl,  and  she  jumped  up  to  make  out  the 
list  of  friends  she  Wished  to  invite. 
44 


I 

T3 
oJ 

a1 


THELMA'S   BIRTHDAY 

One  morning  about  a  week  later  Rover 
waked  up  very  early.  He  slept  at  night 
in  his  kennel  behind  the  barn,  and  he 
always  kept  one  ear  open  so  that  he  could 
hear  the  least  little  bit  of  noise.  But  it 
was  not  a  little  noise  that  waked  him  this 
time. 

"Bang,  bang!  Crack,  crack!  Toot, 
toot!  Ding,  dong!"  he  heard  from  every 
direction. 

"Oh  dear!"  thought  Rover,  "I  wonder 
if  this  is  the  Fourth  of  July !  It  can't  be  a 
year  since  I  heard  that  noise  before." 
But  he  did  not  have  to  wonder  long.  A 
crowd  of  boys  were  coming  down  the  street, 
blowing  horns,  drumming  on  tin  pans  and 
firing  off  torpedoes.  They  threw  a  fire- 
cracker into  Rover's  yard,  and  it  exploded 
in  front  of  his  kennel. 

"That's  it,"  he  said  to  himself,  as  the 
smoke  drifted  away  in  a  little  cloud;  "it 
is  the  Fourth  of  July,  after  all." 

The  minute  the  cook  opened  the  kitchen 
45 


FIREBRANDS 

door  he  pattered  up  the  back  stairs  to 
spend  the  day  under  Thelma's  bed.  His 
little  mistress  went  two  or  three  times  to 
coax  him  to  play  with  her;  but  he  would  n't 
even  come  out  to  eat  his  dinner,  and  when 
her  friends  began  to  arrive  for  the  party 
she  forgot  all  about  him. 

It  was  a  beautiful  evening,  and  after 
supper  the  children  played  games  on  the 
lawn.  It  seemed  to  them  that  it  would 
never  be  dark  enough  for  the  fireworks. 

"I  wish  the  Fourth  of  July  came  in 
December,"  said  one  of  the  boys.  "It  is 
always  dark  by  five  o'clock  when  we  want 
to  go  skating  after  school." 

At  last  it  began  to  grow  dark,  and  Mr. 
Ward  lighted  the  Japanese  lanterns  around 
the  broad  piazza,  and  brought  out  two 
big  boxes  of  fireworks. 

'  You  children  may  sit  on  the  steps  where 

you  can't  get  into  any  mischief,"  he  said. 

"I  will  set  off  the  fireworks  on  the  lawn, 

and   then   we   will   have   a   feast   in   the 

46 


THELMA'S   BIRTHDAY 

summer-house.  I  saw  a  man  walking 
down  that  way  with  some  ice-cream  a 
little  while  ago." 

But  even  ice-cream  was  not  so  tempting 
as  the  fireworks,  and  for  an  hour  the  chil- 
dren sat  on  the  steps,  watching  the  pin- 
wheels  and  Roman  candles  and  red  lights 
that  Mr.  Ward  set  off,  with  two  of  the 
older  boys  to  help  him. 

"O-o-o-oh!"  they  cried,  every  time  a 
sky-rocket  went  whizzing  up  over  the 
trees  to  burst  into  a  hundred  shining  stars; 
and  "A-a-a-ah!"  they  shouted,  when  tiny 
lights  like  fireflies  went  flitting  across  the 
lawn. 

The  last  thing  of  all  was  a  fire-balloon, 
and  Mr.  Ward  called  the  children  down  to 
the  lawn  to  watch  it  fill  with  hot  air  from 
the  burning  candle  in  its  base. 

It  filled  very  slowly,  and  the  children 
were  so  quiet  that  Rover  came  creeping 
down  the  stairs  to  see  if  the  noise  were  all 
over  for  another  year. 
47 


FIREBRANDS 

At  last  the  balloon  rose  slowly  above 
the  children's  heads.  "There  it  goes!" 
they  cried.  "Watch  it,  now!  Watch  it!" 
and  they  ran  along  with  it  as  it  sailed  across 
the  lawn. 

A  puff  of  wind  blew  it  lightly  toward  the 
house.  Then  another  breeze  caught  it 
and  carried  it  over  the  roof  of  the  barn. 

"Look,  look!"  the  children  shouted. 
"It  is  going  higher.  Now  it  will  sail  away 
over  the  trees." 

But  suddenly  a  gust  of  wind  turned  the 
balloon  completely  over.  The  tissue  paper 
caught  fire  from  the  burning  candle,  and 
the  blazing  mass  dropped  down  behind  the 
barn. 

"It  will  set  fire  to  the  summer-house!" 
shouted  Mr.  Ward. 

"And  melt  the  ice-cream,"  cried  the 
children,  as  they  followed  him  across  the 
lawn. 

There  had  been  very  little  rain  for  a 

month,  and  the  roof  of  the  summer-house 

48 


THELMA'S   BIRTHDAY 

was  so  dry  that  it  caught  fire  almost  in- 
stantly from  the  blazing  paper.  Mr. 
Ward  and  some  of  the  boys  brought  pails 
of  water  and  tried  to  put  out  the  flames;  > 
but  the  little  house  and  Rover's  kennel 
were  burned  to  the  ground,  in  spite  of  all 
their  efforts. 

When  the  fire  was  out  and  the  children 
had  gone  home  without  their  ice-cream, 
Mr.  Ward  said  to  his  wife,  "That  is  the 
very  last  time  I  shall  ever  send  up  a  fire- 
balloon.  Fireworks  are  dangerous  enough, 
but  a  fire-balloon  is  worse.  I  believe  the 
sale  of  them  should  be  forbidden  by  law, 
if  men  have  n't  sense  enough  not  to  buy 
them." 

But  Rover,  who  was  sleeping  comfort- 
ably on  the  rug  outside  Thelma's  door, 
cocked  up  his  ears  at  the  mention  of 
fire-balloons.  "They  don't  make  any 
noise,"  he  said  to  himself,  "  and  I  like 
this  bed  much  better  than  the  straw  in 
my  kenneL" 

49 


FIREBRANDS 

Why  do  we  celebrate  the  Fourth  of  July? 

What  was  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence? 

Who  wrote  it,  and  who  signed  it? 

What  fireworks  do  you  like  best? 

What  fireworks  are  dangerous? 

What  is  afire-balloon  made  of? 

Why  is  it  unsafe  to  send  up  afire-balloon? 

What  is  the  law  concerning  the  use  of 
fireworks  in  your  state? 

Every  year  the  celebration  of  the  Fourth 
of  July  costs  thousands  of  dollars  in  the 
destruction  of  property  by  fire,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  loss  of  life  from  the  acci- 
dental or  careless  discharge  of  fireworks. 
One  of  the  causes  of  fires  on  this  day  is 
the  fire-balloons.  They  are  easily  swayed 
by  currents  of  air,  and  the  lighted  candles 
set  fire  to  the  tissue  paper  of  which  the 
balloon  is  made.  The  blazing  paper  falls 
upon  the  roofs  of  buildings,  frequently 
causing  serious  fires. 

50 


THELMA'S   BIRTHDAY 

Almost  all  fireworks  are  dangerous  play- 
things, and  should  be  handled  with  great 
caution.  In  many  states  there  are  laws 
regulating  the  sale  and  use  of  fireworks, 
and  all  over  the  country  there  is  now  a 
general  movement  toward  a  saner  and 
safer  Fourth. 


51 


THE  "E.  V.  I.  S." 

IT  was  a  bright,  beautiful  afternoon  in 
April.     The  air  was  soft  and  spring- 
like, and  the  sky  as  blue  as  only  April 
skies  can  be. 

The  grass  was  springing  up  fresh  and 
green,  and  the  robins  and  bluebirds  were 
singing  joyously. 

Elmwood  was  a  pretty  little  village. 
Its  streets  were  long  and  level,  and  there 
were  so  many  elms  among  the  shade  trees 
that  Elmwood  seemed  just  the  right  name 
for  it. 

The  village  school  had  just  been  dis- 
missed, and  the  street  was  full  of  boys 
and  girls  who  were  hurrying  home  to  their 
dinner;  but  over  in  one  corner  of  the 
campus  a  group  of  boys  were  talking 
together  earnestly. 

52 


THE   "E.    V.   I.    8." 

"I  say,  boys,  we  must  do  it!"  exclaimed 
the  tallest  in  the  group. 

"Of  course  we  must,"  echoed  one  of  the 
younger  boys. 

"It  will  be  great  fun!"  and  "Won't  we 
make  things  look  fine!"  shouted  two  of 
the  others.  And  so  they  talked  on,  in 
eager  boyish  voices,  making  plans  for  the 
Village  Improvement  Society  which  they 
wished  to  form. 

They  had  already  talked  the  matter 
over  with  their  teachers  and  parents,  and 
everyone  encouraged  them  to  go  ahead. 
"We  will  help  and  advise  you  all  we  can," 
they  said;  "and  it  is  just  the  time  of  year 
when  there  is  plenty  to  do  about  the  town." 

That  evening  the  boys  held  a  meeting 
to  elect  officers  and  plan  their  work.  Mr. 
Ashley,  the  principal  of  the  school,  was 
invited  to  come,  and  promptly  at  eight 
o'clock  the  Elmwood  Village  Improve- 
ment Society  was  formed.  Leon  Messen- 
ger was  chosen  president,  Archie  Hazen 
53 


FIREBRANDS 

was  made  secretary,  and  Harold  Merrill 
treasurer. 

Each  and  every  one  promised  to  do  his 
part  and  to  work  with  a  will  to  improve 
the  little  village  of  Elm  wood;  and,  with 
Mr.  Ashley's  advice,  they  planned  their 
work  for  the  summer. 

First  of  all,  they  decided,  the  streets 
must  be  cleaned.  That  alone  would  re- 
quire a  good  deal  of  time. 

Then  some  one  proposed  raking  the 
yards  for  three  or  four  poor  women. 
"They  can't  afford  to  hire  it  done. 
Couldn't  we  do  it  for  them?"  he  asked. 

"Good  work!"  responded  Mr.  Ashley. 
"Then,  boys,  see  if  you  can't  get  per- 
mission to  tear  down  and  remove  some 
old  fences.  Their  owners  would  probably 
make  no  objection  to  your  doing  it,  and  it 
would  be  a  great  improvement  to  the 
village." 

There  were  two  triangles  of  land  be- 
tween cross  streets.  Here  the  boys  planned 
54 


THE   "E.    V.    I.   8." 

to  plant  cannas  and  other  bulbs,  and  to 
keep  the  grass  neatly  mowed  around  the 
beds. 

"We  might  set  out  some  vines  to 
clamber  over  the  telephone  poles,"  one 
boy  suggested. 

"Some  of  us  must  go  about  and  get  the 
people  to  give  money  to  buy  waste- 
barrels,"  said  Archie  Hazen.  "We  must 
never  allow  paper,  banana  and  orange 
peels,  or  anything  of  that  kind  on  the 
streets." 

"Better  still,  we  must  never  throw  them 
there  ourselves,"  added  Harold  Merrill. 

"Those  of  us  who  drive  cows  must  look 
out  that  they  do  not  feed  beside  the  road," 
said  Leon  Messenger;  "and  we  might  get 
our  fathers  to  trim  up  the  trees." 

"We  must  be  sure  to  see  some  of  the 
town  officers  about  having  no  more  rub- 
bish dumped  over  the  river-bank,"  said 
another. 

"We'll  have  our  campus  look  better 
55 


FIREBRANDS 

than  it  ever  did  before,"  declared  one  of 
the  little  boys;  while  another  added, 
"We'll  have  Elm  wood  the  cleanest,  pretti- 
est village  in  all  New  England." 

The  boys  not  only  planned,  —  they 
worked,  and  worked  with  a  will.  The 
very  next  day  was  Saturday,  and  every 
member  of  the  new  E.  V.  I.  S.  was  on  hand 
to  do  his  best. 

Never  had  the  streets  of  Elmwood 
looked  so  clean  as  they  did  in  one  week's 
time.  Many  a  poor  woman's  yard  was 
carefully  raked,  and  several  old  fences 
were  removed. 

Money  for  the  waste-barrels  had  been 
given  cheerfully,  and  all  the  boys  were  so 
eager  to  keep  the  streets  clean  that  they 
would  not  have  thrown  a  paper  bag  or  a 
banana-skin  in  the  road  any  more  than 
they  would  have  thrown  it  on  their  moth- 
er's carpet. 

The  raking  of  so  many  streets  and  yards, 
and  the  tearing  down  of  fences,  made  a 
56 


TEE    "E.    V.    I.    8" 

good  deal  of  rubbish.  The  boys  carted  it 
a  little  way  outside  of  the  village,  and  left 
it  there  to  dry,  so  that  they  could  have  a 
bonfire. 

One  warm  night  in  May,  Leon  Mes- 
senger called  the  club  together  after  school. 
"We  can  have  our  bonfire  to-night,"  he 
said.  "There  has  been  no  rain  for  a  week 
and  it  ought  to  burn  splendidly.  Let's 
all  be  on  hand  by  eight  o'clock." 

Shouts  of  "Sure!"  and  "Hurrah!"  were 
the  answer;  and  the  boys  were  all  on  hand 
in  good  season  that  evening. 

The  fence  rails  made  a  fine  foundation, 
and  the  boys  built  them  up  in  log-cabin 
style.  Then  they  threw  on  old  boxes, 
barrels,  and  rubbish  until  they  had  an 
enormous  pile. 

"Now  let's  finish  off  with  some  dry  fir 
boughs,"  suggested  Harold.  "They  will 
send  the  sparks  up  like  rockets." 

When  everything  was  ready,  kerosene 
was  poured  over  the  brush,  and  a  lighted 
57 


FIREBRANDS 

match  soon  set  the  fire  blazing  merrily. 
Then  how  the  boys  did  shout!  They 
danced  around  the  fire,  whooping  and 
singing,  and  pretending  they  were  Indians 
having  a  war-dance. 

When  at  last  the  fire  died  down,  they 
found  some  long  sticks  and  poked  the 
embers  to  make  the  sparks  fly  again,  and 
then  they  sat  down  around  the  glowing 
ashes  and  watched  the  little  flames  flicker 
out.  Finally  they  all  decided  that  there 
could  be  no  danger  in  leaving  their  bonfire. 

"Well,"  said  Archie  Hazen,  "there 
seems  to  be  some  fun  for  the  E.  V.  I.  S. 
after  all.  Let's  give  three  rousing  cheers 
and  then  go  home  to  bed." 

The  three  cheers  were  given  with  a  wilL 
Then  the  boys  bade  each  other  good- 
night and  set  off  for  home. 

When    everything   was    quiet    and    the 

whole  village  was  asleep,  North  Wind  took 

his  turn  at  building  a  fire.    He  puffed  out 

his  cheeks  and  blew  on  the  red  embers 

58 


THE   "E.    V.    L   S" 

until  tiny  flames  came  darting  out  to  lick 
the  dry  leaves. 

He  sent  merry  little  breezes  to  toss  the 
hot  sparks  into  the  grass,  and  when  it 
blazed  up,  here  and  there,  he  blew  with  all 
his  might  and  swept  the  fire  across  the  field. 

Just  beyond  the  fence  stood  an  old, 
tumble-down  barn,  and  it  was  not  long 
before  the  fire  was  raging  and  roaring  its 
way  to  the  very  roof.  The  blaze  lighted 
the  sky  and  wakened  the  village  folk  from 
their  sleep. 

Men  and  boys  tumbled  out  of  bed  and 
hurried  through  the  streets  with  buckets 
of  water.  The  firemen  came  out  with 
their  hose  and  ladders;  but  it  was  too  late, 
—  the  old  barn  was  gone. 

Fortunately  there  were  no  other  build- 
ings near  by,  so  little  damage  was  done; 
but  it  taught  the  boys  a  good  lesson.  They 
had  a  meeting  the  very  next  morning, 
and  agreed  never  to  leave  a  fire  again 

until  the  last  spark  was  burned  out,  and 
59 


FIREBRANDS 

never  to  build  another  bonfire  without 
first  raking  the  leaves  and  dry  grass  care- 
fully away  before  lighting  the  fire. 

"But  it  did  improve  the  looks  of  the 
village  to  burn  down  that  old  barn," 
Leon  told  Archie,  when  they  were  walk- 
ing home  from  school  together.  "We 
really  ought  to  add  old  North  Wind  to  our 
list  of  members  of  the  E.  V.  I.  S." 

What  was  the  object  of  this  society? 
What  was  the  result  of  their  work? 
What  was  done  with  the  rubbish? 
How  did  the  fire  get  started? 
What  lesson  did  it  teach? 

The  burning  of  dry  grass,  leaves,  and 
rubbish  in  bonfires,  in  the  spring  or  fall, 
is  a  common  practice.  Extreme  care 
should  be  used  that  it  is  done  at  a  safe 
distance  from  buildings  and  woods,  and  it 
should  be  constantly  watched,  as  a  breeze 
may  fan  the  flames  and  cause  the  spread 
of  the  fire. 

60 


FOREST  FIRES 

THE    loss    by    forest    fires     in    the 
United  States  for  the  month  of  Oc- 
tober, 1910,  was  about  $14,600,000. 
Thousands    of  acres    of    valuable    timber 
were  destroyed,   leaving  in  the  place  of 
beautiful    green    forests    nothing    but    a 
dreary  waste  of  black  stumps  and  fallen 
trunks. 

This  was  an  unusually  heavy  loss  for  a 
single  month;  but  in  the  spring  and  fall 
of  every  year,  especially  in  times  of  drought, 
fires  sometimes  rage  for  days  through  our 
splendid  forests. 

These  fires  are  more  frequent  and  dis- 
astrous in  Minnesota,  Michigan,  New 
York,  and  eastern  Maine;  but,  in  1910, 
twenty-eight  different  states  suffered  heavy 
loss  among  their  timber  lands. 
61 


FIREBRANDS 

The  causes  of  these  fires  are  chiefly 
sparks  from  engines  or  sawmills,  camp- 
fires,  burning  brush,  careless  smokers,  and 
lightning.  More  than  two-thirds  of  the 
fires  are  due  to  thoughtlessness  and  igno- 
rance, and  could  be  prevented.  Even  in 
the  case  of  a  fire  set  by  lightning,  which 
seems  purely  accidental,  the  fire  would  not 
occur  if  fallen  trees  and  dead  underbrush 
were  cleared  away,  for  lightning  never 
ignites  green  wood. 

In  one  year  there  were  three  hundred 
fires  among  the  Adirondack  Mountains  of 
New  York,  one  hundred  and  twenty-one  of 
which  were  due  to  sparks  from  the  engines 
of  passing  trains.  Eighty -eight  were  traced 
to  piles  of  leaves  left  burning,  twenty- 
nine  to  camp  fires,  and  six  to  cigar-stubs 
and  burning  tobacco  from  pipes. 

Every  fire,  when  it  first  starts,  is  nothing 
but  a  little  blaze  which  might  easily  be 
extinguished;  but  as  it  grows  and  spreads 
it  quickly  gets  beyond  control,  unless 


FOREST   FIRES 

there  is  a  force  of  well-trained  men  to 
fight  it. 

There  are  three  kinds  of  forest  fires,  — 
"top  fires,"  "ground  fires,"  and  the  fires 
which  burn  the  whole  trees  and  leave 
nothing  standing  but  stumps  and  black- 
ened trunks. 

The  "top  fire"  is  a  fire  in  the  tops  of  the 
trees.  It  is  usually  caused  by  a  spark 
from  an  engine  dropping  on  a  dry  twig  or 
cone  among  the  upper  branches.  A  light 
breeze  will  then  blow  the  fire  from  one 
tree  to  another  high  up  in  the  air,  and 
after  it  has  swept  through  the  forest  and 
killed  the  tops,  the  trees  will  die.  This  is 
the  hardest  kind  of  a  fire  to  fight,  as  it  is 
impossible  to  reach  it.  The  only  thing  to 
do  is  to  cut  a  lane  in  the  forest  too  wide 
for  the  flames  to  leap  across;  but  there  is 
not  always  time  for  this,  as  the  fire  travels 
rapidly. 

The  ground  fire  is  not  so  difficult  to  cut 
off,  as  it  spreads  through  the  moss  and 
63 


FIREBRANDS 

the  decaying  vegetable  matter  among  the 
roots  of  the  trees.  A  broad  furrow  of 
fresh  earth,  turned  up  with  a  plow,  or  dug 
up  with  a  spade,  will  stop  the  progress  of 
the  fire;  but  this  kind  of  fire  is  especially 
treacherous,  as  it  will  live  for  days,  or 
even  weeks,  smouldering  in  a  slow-burning 
log  or  in  a  bed  of  closely-packed  pine 
needles,  and  then  burst  out  with  renewed 
vigor. 

As  all  large  fires  create  air  currents, 
masses  of  light  gas,  like  large  bubbles  or 
balloons,  are  blown  about  in  the  air,  ready 
to  burst  into  flame  from  even  a  tiny  spark. 
In  this  way  new  and  mysterious  fires  are 
set,  often  at  some  distance  from  the  original 
fire. 

An  ordinary  forest  fire  travels  slowly 
unless  it  is  fanned  by  strong  winds  or  driven 
by  a  hurricane.  It  will  burn  up-hill  much 
faster  than  it  burns  down-hill,  as  the 
flames,  and  the  drafts  they  create,  sweep 

upward. 

64 


FOREST   FIRES 

The  noise  from  one  of  these  great  fires 
is  terrifying.  The  flames  roar  with  a  voice 
like  thunder,  and  the  fallen  trees  crash  to 
the  ground,  bringing  down  other  trees 
with  them. 

Birds  and  wild  animals  flee  before  the 
fire,  hurrying  away  to  a  place  of  safety. 
They  seem  to  know  by  instinct  which  way 
to  go,  and  deer,  bears,  coyotes,  mountain 
sheep,  and  mountain  lions  will  follow  along 
the  same  trail  without  fear  of  each  other 
in  their  common  danger. 

Some  of  our  national  forests,  and  some 
of  the  tracts  of  timber  land  owned  by 
big  lumber  companies,  are  guarded  by 
forest  rangers  and  fire  patrols,  and  many 
fires  are  put  out  before  they  do  serious 
damage,  by  the  quick  thought  and  skilled 
work  of  these  men  and  their  helpers. 

It  has  been  estimated  that  forest  fires 

in  the  United  States  destroy  property  to 

the  value  of  $50,000,000  every  year.     In 

this  way  the  timber  in  the  country  is  being 

65 


FIREBRANDS 

rapidly  exhausted;  and  unless  something 
is  done  to  put  a  stop  to  this  waste  and  to 
replenish  the  supply  by  planting  new 
forests,  there  will  be  little  timber  left  in 
another  fifty  years. 

It  is  impossible  to  realize  the  extent  to 
which  our  forests  have  been  destroyed 
unless  one  travels  through  these  great 
barren  wastes.  To  ride  in  a  railway  train 
for  hundreds  of  miles  through  northern 
Michigan  and  Minnesota,  seeing  nothing 
but  stumps,  like  tombstones  of  what  were 
once  magnificent  trees,  and  short  dead 
trunks,  like  sentinels  on  a  battle-field, 
is  a  sad  and  depressing  sight. 


66 


PINCH  AND  TEDDY 

PINCH  was  a  tiny  terrier  pup  when 
we  first  brought  him  home  to  live 
with  us.     He  was  a  plump,  round, 
little  fellow,  with  long,  silvery-gray  hair. 
His  ears  were  so  soft  and  silky  that  every 
one  admired  them,  and  his  eyes  were  as 
bright  as  buttons,  when  we  could  get  a 
glimpse  of  them.    But  the  hair  hung  over 
them  so  long  that  we  did  not  see  them 
very  often. 

As  he  grew  older  we  had  him  clipped 
every  summer.  Then  he  was  much  more 
comfortable;  and  he  looked  prettier,  too, 
for  his  coat  was  as  smooth  and  shining  as 
a  piece  of  satin.  The  hair  over  his  eyes 
was  never  cut;  if  it  were,  he  could  not  see 
so  well.  This  hair  was  needed  to  protect 
his  eyes  from  the  strong  sunlight. 
67 


FIREBRANDS 

Pinch  was  a  very  aristocratic  little  dog. 
He  did  not  like  to  play  with  any  one  whose 
manners  were  not  good. 

Sometimes  a  street  dog  would  come  up 
to  him,  with  a  friendly  air,  and  say, 
"Good  morning,  would  n't  you  like  to  play 
with  me  for  a  while?" 

But  Pinch  always  tossed  his  nose  in  the 
air  and  walked  away  very  proudly,  say- 
ing, "No,  I  thank  you,  not  to-day." 

This  often  made  the  poor  street  dog  feel 
a  little  hurt;  but  he  would  wag  his  tail 
and  run  away  to  his  old  playmates.. 
"Don't  ever  try  to  have  anything  to  do 
with  aristocratic  Pinch,"  he  would  tell 
them,  in  dog  language.  "He  feels  too  fine 
for  us.  I  shall  never  give  him  a  chance  to 
snub  me  again." 

Pinch  liked  the  softest  cushions  to  lie 
on,  and  the  daintiest  things  to  eat.  He 
was  very  fond  of  his  mistress  and  liked  to 
have  her  feed  him;  but  he  never  liked  to 
eat  from  a  dish.  He  preferred  to  have  her 
68 


PINCH   AND    TEDDY 

break  his  food  in  tiny  pieces  and  feed  it 
to  him  from  her  hand. 

He  had  a  little  bed  of  his  own  on  the 
floor,  but  he  liked  the  soft  down  puff  on 
the  guest-room  bed  much  better,  and  be 
often  stole  away  to  take  a  nap  there. 

Pinch  had  one  very  bad  habit.  He 
always  barked  when  any  one  rang  the 
door-bell,  and  no  one  but  his  master  could 
stop  him.  His  mistress  often  tried  to 
quiet  him;  but  Pinch  would  look  up  at 
her  with  merry  eyes  which  seemed  to  say, 
"I'm  not  a  bit  afraid  of  you.  I  know  you 
love  me  too  well  to  punish  me."  And  he 
kept  right  on  barking. 

He  liked  to  go  for  a  walk  with  any 
member  of  the  family,  and  if  he  were 
left  at  home  alone,  he  would  sit  down 
beside  the  door  and  cry  as  if  his  little 
doggish  heart  would  break.  If  his  master's 
automobile  stopped  in  front  of  the  house, 
he  would  run  out  and  jump  up  in  the  front 
seat,  wagging  his  little  stump  of  a  tail. 
69 


FIREBRANDS 

"I  don't  mean  to  be  left  at  home  this 
time,"  he  seemed  to  be  saying;  but  he 
would  look  anxiously  at  his  mistress  until 
she  said,  "Yes,  Pinch,  you  may  go."  Then 
he  would  fairly  dance  up  and  down  in  his 
excitement. 

One  afternoon  Pinch  came  into  the 
house,  sniffing  about  as  usual.  Suddenly, 
to  his  surprise,  he  came  upon  a  half -grown 
kitten  curled  up  comfortably  under  the 
kitchen  stove.  The  kitten  was  fat  and 
black,  and  he  had  a  pretty  pink  nose  and 
a  long  tail  with  a  tiny  white  tip.  Yes, 
and  he  had  roguish-looking  eyes,  too. 

"Who  are  you,  and  what  are  you  doing 
here?"  asked  Pinch,  bristling  up  angrily. 

"My  name  is  Teddy,  and  I  have  come 
to  live  in  this  house,"  the  kitten  answered 
politely. 

Pinch  looked  Teddy  over  scornfully  and 

was  not  very  cordial.     He  walked  away 

muttering   to   himself,    "I   do   hope   that 

saucy  black  kitten  does  n't  expect  me  to 

70 


PINCH   AND    TEDDY 

chum  with  him.  I  don't  see  why  my 
mistress  wants  a  kitten  anyway.  I  am 
pet  enough  for  one  family." 

Pinch  was  really  jealous  of  the  poor 
little  kitten;  but  Teddy  was  so  bright 
and  good-natured  that  he  could  n't  help 
playing  with  him  sometimes,  especially  if 
no  one  was  there  to  see  him;  but  he 
could  n't  bear  to  see  his  mistress  pet  the 
cat. 

"Here  I  am,"  he  would  say;  "don't 
talk  to  that  cat.  Talk  to  me." 

Then  he  would  chase  Teddy  all  over  the 
house,  until  at  last  Teddy  would  turn  and 
box  his  ears,  and  that  was  the  end  of  the 
game  for  that  day. 

Teddy  had  a  funny  little  trick  of  jump- 
ing up  on  the  sideboard.  Perhaps  he 
liked  to  look  at  himself  in  the  mirror. 
Once,  when  he  was  playing  with  Pinch, 
he  jumped  up  in  such  a  hurry  that  he 
knocked  off  a  glass  dish  and  broke  it  all 
to  pieces.  He  was  so  frightened  at  the 
71 


FIREBRANDS 

noise  that  he  did  not  get  up  there  again 
for  a  long  time;  but  he  did  sit  on  the  chairs 
and  tables,  and  even  on  the  beds  and 
bureaus.  In  fact,  he  made  himself  at 
home  almost  anywhere. 

He  was  very  playful,  too,  so  his  mistress 
gave  him  a  soft  ball  and  a  little  woolly 
chicken.  He  kept  them  under  the  book- 
case in  the  library,  and  whenever  he 
wanted  a  game  of  ball  he  pulled  them  out 
and  played  with  them  for  a  while. 

Sometimes  he  played  with  his  own  tail, 
chasing  it  round  and  round,  and  twisting, 
himself  up  double  in  his  excitement.  He 
played  with  the  curtain  tassels,  too,  and 
with  the  corner  of  the  tablecloth;  but  his 
mistress  always  scolded  him  if  she  caught 
him  at  it. 

One  evening,  just  before  supper,  the 
whole  family  was  up  stairs,  and  Pinch  and 
Teddy  were  having  a  very  lively  frolic 
in  the  dining-room.  Suddenly  there  was 
a  great  crash,  and  the  cat  and  dog  went 
72 


PINCH   AND    TEDDY 

flying  through  the  hall  to  hide  under  the 
sofa  in  the  parlor. 

The  cook  came  running  in  from  the 
kitchen,  and  down  stairs  rushed  the  whole 
family  to  see  what  was  the  matter.  There 
was  matter  enough,  you  may  be  sure,  for 
Teddy  had  jumped  at  the  table,  missed  his 
footing,  and  pulled  off  the  cloth  with  all 
the  dishes  and  a  lighted  lamp. 

The  lamp  broke  as  it  fell  to  the  floor, 
and  the  burning  oil  was  already  spreading 
over  the  carpet. 

"  Fire !  Fire ! "  cried  the  excited  children. 

"Water!  Water!"  screamed  the  cook, 
and  she  ran  back  to  the  kitchen  to  catch 
up  a  pail. 

"Don't  pour  water  on  that  blazing  oil," 
shouted  the  master  of  the  house.  "Bring 
some  flour.  Quick!/' 

The  children  ran  to  the  pantry,  and  the 
cook  dipped  up  big  panfuls  of  flour,  which 
they  carried  to  the  dining-room  and  threw 
over  the  fire. 

73 


FIREBRANDS 

The  room  was  filled  with  a  thick,  black 
smoke,  and  every  one  coughed  and  choked; 
their  eyes  began  to  smart,  and  tears  ran 
down  their  cheeks;  but  they  worked 
bravely,  and  after  a  few  minutes  the  last 
tiny  flame  was  extinguished. 

"What  a  queer  way  to  put  out  a  fire!" 
said  one  of  the  boys,  after  the  excitement 
was  all  over.  "I  thought  everyone  always 
used  water." 

"Not  when  the  fire  is  caused  by  burning 
oil,"  replied  his  father.  "Water  will  only 
spread  the  oil,  and  make  a  bad  matter, 
worse.  Always  remember  to  use  flour  or 
sand  to  smother  the  flames,  if  a  lamp 
explodes  or  is  tipped  over." 

"There  is  something  else  we  should  re- 
member," added  his  wife;  "and  that  is, 
never  to  leave  a  lighted  lamp  on  the  table 
when  there  is  no  one  in  the  room." 

Pinch  and  Teddy  had  something  to  re- 
member, too.  The  noise  of  the  falling 
china  and  the  sight  of  the  blazing  oil  had 
74 


PINCH   AND    TEDDY 

sent  them  scurrying  under  the  couch  in 
the  parlor;  and  although  they  had  many 
another  good  frolic,  Teddy  never  jumped 
up  on  the  table  again. 

Who  was  Pinch?     Who  was  Teddy? 

Where  did  Teddy  like  to  sleep? 

How  did  he  pull  the  cloth  off  the  table? 

What  harm  did  it  do? 

Why  should  a  cat  never  be  allowed  to  jump 
on  a  table? 

What  other  animals  do  you  know  of  that 
have  set  fires  by  accident? 

Great  care  should  be  taken  to  prevent 
children  and  pet  animals  from  setting 
fires.  Many  a  cat  or  dog  has  tipped  over 
a  lamp  and  set  the  house  on  fire. 

It  is  safer  to  place  the  lamp  on  a  shelf 
or  bracket.  Never  set  it  on  a  table  which 
is  covered  with  a  cloth  that  hangs  over 
the  edge,  as  the  cloth  might  accidentally 
be  pulled  off,  bringing  the  lamp  with  it. 

Hanging  lamps  should  be  used  with 
75 


FIREBRANDS 

caution,  as  the  heat  may  melt  the  solder 
in  the  chain,  thus  weakening  the  links 
and  allowing  the  lighted  lamp  to  fall  upon 
the  table  or  floor. 

A  lantern  should  always  be  hung  up, 
especially  in  the  barn  or  stable.  It  should 
never  be  set  on  the  floor  where  it  could 
easily  be  tipped  over,  or  where  it  might 
be  kicked  over  by  a  cow  or  horse. 


76 


THE  BUSY  BEES 

EVERYONE     in    the    neighborhood 
called  the  Belchers  the  "Busy  Bees; " 
in   fact,  they    had   been   called   by 
this  name  so  long  that  they  had  almost 
forgotten  their  real  name. 

When  the  children  went  out  on  the 
street  together,  the  neighbors  would  say, 
"There  go  the  Busy  Bees;"  and  if  any  one 
wanted  a  book  from  the  library,  or  a  spool 
of  thread  from  the  corner  store,  some  one 
was  sure  to  suggest,  "Ask  one  of  the  Busy 
Bees  to  get  it  for  you." 

Father  Busy  Bee  had  died  several  years 
ago.  That  meant  that  Mother  Busy  Bee 
and  the  young  Bees  must  work  all  the 
harder  to  keep  their  home  together. 

Beatrice,  the  oldest  daughter,  was  seven- 
teen years  old,  and  almost  ready  to  grad- 
77 


FIREBRANDS 

uate  from  the  High  School.  Bradley  was 
a  messenger  boy  at  the  telegraph  office, 
Burton  worked  in  a  green-house  on  Satur- 
days and  holidays;  and  Little  Barbara, 
who  was  only  eight  years  old,  earned  a 
good  many  pennies  by  running  on  errands 
for  the  next-door  neighbors. 

Mother  Busy  Bee  was  a  good  nurse, 
and  whenever  she  could  possibly  spare 
time  from  her  children,  she  left  Beatrice  to 
keep  the  house  while  she  went  to  take  care 
of  any  one  who  was  sick  and  needed  her. 

It  would  be  hard  to  find  a  busier  family 
anywhere,  and  as  every  one  of  their  names 
began  with  "B,"  it  was  hardly  surprising 
that  people  called  them  the  "Busy  Bees." 
Perhaps  they  were  all  the  happier  for 
being  so  busy,  for  they  had  no  time  for 
quarreling  or  getting  into  mischief;  and 
when  they  did  have  a  few  minutes  for 
play,  they  thought  they  were  the  luckiest 
children  in  town,  and  had  the  very  best 

time  you  can  imagine. 
78 


THE   BUSY   BEES 

Of  course  Mother  Busy  Bee  was  always 
sorry  to  leave  her  children  at  home  alone; 
but  Beatrice  was  getting  old  enough  now 
to  be  a  pretty  good  housekeeper,  and 
Bradley  was  a  manly  little  fellow  who 
liked  to  take  care  of  his  brother  and  sisters. 

One  night  there  was  an  accident  at  one 
of  the  mills  in  the  town,  and  several 
people  were  injured.  Mother  Busy  Bee 
was  sent  for  in  a  hurry,  and  she  put  on  her 
hat  and  coat  and  got  ready  to  go  at  once, 
talking  all  the  time  as  she  flew  around  the 
house. 

"  I  may  be  back  in  an  hour,  and  I  may  be 
gone  a  week,"  she  said.  "Take  good  care 
of  each  other,  and  be  very  careful  about 
fire.  Don't  play  with  the  matches,  always 
set  the  lamp  in  the  middle  of  the  big  table, 
and  never  go  out  of  the  house  without 
looking  to  see  that  the  drafts  of  the  stove 
are  all  shut  tight." 

She  had  said  this  so  many  times  before 

that  Bradley  could  n't  help  laughing.    "  Oh, 
79 


FIREBRANDS 

mother!"  he  exclaimed;  "y°u  are  always 
looking  for  trouble.  We  are  too  old  to  play 
with  matches,  and  we  never  have  set  any- 
thing on  fire  yet." 

Just  then  his  mother  caught  sight  of  a 
pile  of  schoolbooks  on  the  table,  and 
another  worry  slipped  into  her  mind. 
"There!"  she  said,  "it  is  examination 
week  for  you  and  Bee,  and  I  ought  not 
to  leave  you  at  all.  You  need  to  study 
every  minute." 

"Now,  Mother,"  said  Beatrice,  throw- 
ing her  arm  around  Mrs.  Busy  Bee  and 
running  with  her  to  the  door,  "there are 
ever  so  many  people  in  this  town  who  need 
you  more  than  we  do  to-night.  Run  along, 
dear,  and  don't  worry.  We'll  get  along 
splendidly.  I  can  get  up  earlier  in  the 
morning  and  have  plenty  of  time  to  study 
after  the  dishes  are  done.  Barbara  will 
help  me,  too.  She  is  a  big  girl  now,  you 
know;"  and  she  drew  her  little  sister  up 
beside  her  to  give  Mother  a  good-bye  kiss. 
80 


THE   BUSY   BEES 

So  Mrs.  Busy  Bee  hurried  down  the 
stairs  to  the  street  door,  calling  back  all 
sorts  of  instructions,  and  promising  to  be 
home  in  a  day  or  two  at  the  very  most. 

But  the  accident  was  more  serious  than 
she  expected,  and  at  the  end  of  a  week  she 
was  still  unable  to  leave  her  patient's 
bedside. 

In  the  meantime  Beatrice  and  Bradley 
had  found  plenty  of  time  for  study,  and 
had  taken  all  their  school  examinations. 
It  was  a  circle  of  merry  faces  that  gathered 
around  the  supper  table  each  night,  even 
if  Mother  were  still  away  and  the  house  so 
full  of  work. 

Everything  went  well  until  one  evening 
Beatrice  discovered  that  the  doughnut  jar 
was  empty.  She  knew  how  much  the  boys 
liked  doughnuts  for  their  breakfast,  and 
as  she  had  often  seen  her  mother  make 
them,  she  felt  sure  she  knew  just  how  it 
was  done. 

She  set  the  kettle  of  fat  on  the  stove, 
81 


FIREBRANDS 

put  the  lamp  on  a  shelf  out  of  the  way, 
rolled  up  her  sleeves  and  went  to  work. 
But  it  was  not  so  easy  as  it  had  seemed, 
and  before  the  doughnuts  were  rolled  out 
and  cut  into  round  rings,  ready  to  fry, 
Beatrice  was  beginning  to  wish  she  had  n't 
attempted  it. 

"I  never  thought  cooking  could  be  such 
hard  work,"  she  said  with  a  sigh,  as  she 
dropped  the  first  ring  into  the  fat,  and 
waited  for  it  to  rise  and  turn  a  lovely 
golden  brown.  But  it  did  n't  rise  very 
quickly,  and  when  it  did  float  leisurely, 
to  the  surface,  it  was  still  white  and 
sticky. 

"The  fat  isn't  hot  enough,  I  guess," 
she  said  to  herself,  and  taking  up  the 
kettle  by  the  handle,  she  lifted  the  stove- 
cover  to  set  the  kettle  over  the  coals.  But 
the  kettle  was  not  well  balanced  on  its 
handle,  and  it  tipped  a  little.  Some  of  the 
fat  spilled  over  on  the  hot  stove  and  took 
fire.  The  flames  spread  quickly,  and 
82 


THE   BUSY   BEES 

Beatrice's  gingham  apron  blazed  up  almost 
instantly. 

The  poor  girl  screamed  with  fright, 
tearing  at  her  apron  to  get  it  off,  and  rush- 
ing to  the  sitting-room  for  help. 

Bradley  looked  up  and  saw  her  coming. 
"Stand  still!  Stand  still!"  he  shouted, 
and  catching  a  heavy  afghan  from  the 
couch  he  threw  it  over  her  shoulders,  to 
protect  her  face  from  the  flames.  Then  he 
snatched  a  rug  from  the  floor  and  wrapped 
it  tightly  around  her  to  smother  the  fire, 
which  was  beginning  to  burn  her  woollen 
dress. 

Poor  Beatrice  was  badly  burned  and 
terribly  frightened.  She  sobbed  and  cried, 
partly  with  fear,  partly  with  pain,  for  her 
hands  were  blistered,  and  there  were 
spatters  of  hot  fat  on  her  bare  arms;  but, 
fortunately,  the  fat  on  the  stove  had 
burned  itself  out  without  setting  fire  to 
the  kitchen,  and  that  was  something  to  be 
very  thankful  for,  at  least. 
83 


FIREBRANDS 

Bradley  made  his  sister  as  comfortable 
as  he  knew  how,  while  Burton  ran  to  ask 
one  of  the  neighbors  what  to  do  for  her 
bums;  but  when  their  mother  came  home 
the  next  morning,  she  found  a  very  sober 
group  of  children  to  greet  her.  And  from 
that  day  to  this  not  one  of  the  Busy 
Bees  ever  wanted  another  doughnut  for 
breakfast. 

Why  were  the  Belchers  called  "Busy 
Bees"? 

Why  did  Beatrice  try  to  fry  some  dough- 
nuts? 

How  did  she  set  her  apron  on  fire? 

Why  did  Bradley  tell  her  to  stand  still? 

How  did  he  smother  the  flames? 

What  lessons  do  you  learn  from  this 
story? 

Frying  doughnuts,  or  any  other  food, 

in  hot  fat  is  always  dangerous,  as  there 

are  many  ways  of  setting  the  fat  on  fire. 

Only  an  experienced  person  should  attempt 

84 


TEE   BUSY   BEES 

it.  The  kettle  should  never  be  more  than 
two-thirds  full  of  fat.  The  fat  should  not 
be  allowed  to  boil  up,  nor  to  bubble  over. 
Never  put  water  into  fat,  nor  drop  in  any- 
thing that  has  been  in  water  without  first 
wiping  or  drying  it.  Water  will  always 
make  hot  fat  spatter.  Great  care  should 
be  used  in  moving  the  kettle  on  the  stove. 
Never  raise  it  or  move  it  without  using 
two  hands,  and  two  holders,  one  to  lift 
the  handle,  the  other  to  steady  the  side 
of  the  kettle. 

Do  not  use  water  to  put  out  an  oil  fire, 
as  it  causes  the  fire  to  spread  over  a  greater 
surface.  Smother  the  flames  with  a  heavy 
rug  or  coat.  If  a  woman's  clothing  catches 
fire,  she  should  not  run  through  the  house, 
as  running  only  fans  the  flames  and  makes 
them  burn  all  the  faster.  She  should  wrap 
herself  in  a  rug  or  heavy  mat,  or  roll  on 
the  floor. 


85 


THE  COUNTY  FAIR 

,  Father,  please  let  me  go  to  the 
fedr!     You  promised  me  I  could 
a  week  ago.    All  the  boys  are  go- 
ing, and  I  just  can't  give  it  up.     Please 
let  me  go!"    and  Harry  was  almost  in 
tears  over  his  disappointment. 

"I  know  all  about  it,  Harry,"  his  father 
answered.  "I  realize  how  much  you  have 
looked  forward  to  the  fair,  and  I  should 
like  to  have  you  go.  There  is  a  great  deal 
for  a  boy  to  learn  at  a  fair,  if  he  will  only 
keep  his  eyes  open,  but  you  see  just  how 
it  is.  I  am  in  bed  with  a  sprained  ankle, 
and  your  mother  cannot  leave  the  baby. 
So  what  are  we  to  do?  A  boy  of  ten  is  too 
young  to  go  to  such  a  place  without  some 
one  to  look  after  him." 

:<Yes,  Father;  but  Roy  Bradish  is  going 
with  two  other  boys  who  are  twelve  or 
86 


THE    COUNTY   FAIR 

fourteen  years  old,  and  they  asked  me  to 
go  with  them.  They  could  take  care  of 
me  as  well  as  not.  I'd  be  good,  Father. 
Please,  please  let  me  go!" 

Harry  begged  so  hard  that  at  last  his 
father  yielded,  and  gave  the  boy  permis- 
sion to  go  with  his  friends. 

"I  would  rather  have  you  go  with  an 
older  person,"  he  said;  "but  there  seems 
to  be  no  one  who  can  take  you.  Be  very 
careful  not  to  get  into  mischief.  Don't 
shout,  or  run  about,  or  do  anything  to 
attract  attention.  A  quiet  boy  who  takes 
care  of  himself  is  the  boy  I  like  to  see." 

So,  on  the  day  of  the  fair,  a  warm  sunny 
day  in  late  September,  Harry  started  off 
with  his  three  friends.  He  had  a  dollar 
in  his  pocket  for  spending-money,  and  a 
box  under  his  arm,  which  was  well  filled 
with  sandwiches  and  doughnuts.  As  he 
bade  good-bye  to  his  father  and  mother, 
he  promised  over  and  over  to  be  good, 
and  to  come  home  before  dark. 
87 


FIREBRANDS 

It  was  a  long  walk  to  the  grounds  where 
the  fair  was  held  every  year,  but  the  boys 
trudged  along,  talking  and  laughing,  and 
having  a  good  time. 

At  the  entrance-gate  Harry  spent  half 
of  his  dollar  for  a  ticket,  and  it  was  not 
long  before  the  other  half  was  gone,  for 
there  were  many  things  to  tempt  money 
from  a  boy's  pocket.  He  bought  peanuts 
and  pop-corn  and  a  cane  for  himself,  an 
apple-corer  for  his  mother,  and  a  whet- 
stone for  his  father. 

The  other  boys  spent  their  money,  too;- 
and  then  they  wandered  around  in  the 
grounds,  going  into  first  one  building  and 
then  another.  There  were  exhibitions  of 
vegetables  and  fruit  in  one  building,  — 
great  piles  of  squashes  and  pumpkins; 
boxes  of  onions,  turnips,  beets,  carrots, 
and  parsnips;  ears  of  yellow  corn  with 
their  husks  braided  together,  and  corn- 
stalks ten  or  twelve  feet  tall  ranged  against 

the  wall. 

88 


From  Stereograph,  Copyright,  1905,  by  Underwood  &  Underwood,  N.  Y. 

The  horses  are  led  away  to  a  place  of  safety 


THE    COUNTY   FAIR 

The  fruit  was  displayed  on  long  tables 
in  the  center  of  the  room,  —  rosy-cheeked 
apples,  luscious  golden  pears,  velvety 
peaches,  and  great  clusters  of  purple  grapes. 
It  was  enough  to  make  one's  mouth  water 
just  to  look  at  them. 

But  the  animal-sheds  were  even  more 
interesting.  There  were  handsome  horses, 
—  black,  bay,  and  chestnut.  Their  coats 
shone  like  satin;  and  when  their  keepers 
led  them  out  they  arched  their  necks  and 
pranced  about,  as  if  they  were  trying  to 
say,  "Did  you  ever  see  a  more  beautiful 
creature  than  I  am?  Just  wait  a  while, 
and  I  will  race  for  you.  See  all  these  blue 
ribbons!  I  won  them  by  my  beauty  and 
my  speed." 

Then  there  were  the  cattle,  long  rows  of 
them,  standing  patiently  in  their  narrow 
stalls;  the  pigs,  little  ones  and  big  ones, 
white  ones  and  black  ones;  and  the  sheep 
with  their  long  coats  of  warm,  soft  wool. 

After  the  boys  had  eaten  their  lunch 
89 


FIREBRANDS 

they  watched  the  horse-show  for  a  little 
while,  and  then  there  was  a  free  circus 
which  they  wanted  to  see,  so  it  was  the 
middle  of  the  afternoon  before  they  found 
their  way  to  the  poultry  show. 

Such  a  noise  you  never  heard  in  all  your 
life  as  the  one  that  greeted  their  ears  the 
moment  they  stepped  inside  the  door. 
If  you  want  to  hear  some  queer  music, 
just  listen  to  a  poultry  band  at  a  county 
fair,  —  roosters  crowing,  hens  cackling, 
ducks  quacking,  pigeons  cooing,  and  tur- 
keys gobbling. 

Harry  liked  the  poultry-show  best  of  all. 
He  had  some  hens  at  home  which  he  had 
raised  himself,  and  he  stood  for  a  long  time 
watching  a  mother  hen  and  her  tiny 
bantam  chickens. 

"I  wish  I  had  n't  spent  all  my  money,'* 
he  said  to  himself.  "I'd  like  to  buy  two 
or  three  of  those  chickens." 

"Cock-a-doodle-doo!"  said  a  loud  voice 
in  a  cage  behind  him. 
90 


THE    COUNTY   FAIR 

Harry  turned  quickly,  and  there  stood  a 
handsome  white  rooster,  flapping  his  wings 
and  crowing  lustily. 

"Cock-a-doodle-doo!"  he  said  again, 
and  he  walked  back  and  forth  in  the  narrow 
cage,  strutting  proudly,  and  spreading  his 
wings  as  if  to  say,  "What  do  you  think 
of  me?" 

"Cock-a-doodle-doo!  I'd  like  to  buy 
you,  too,"  said  Harry. 

"He  is  a  beauty,  isn't  he,  Roy?"  he 
added,  turning  to  speak  to  his  friend. 
But  the  boys  were  gone.  He  walked  the 
whole  length  of  the  building,  and  they  were 
nowhere  to  be  seen. 

"Perhaps  they  have  gone  back  to  the 
sheep-pens,"  he  said  to  himself,  and  he  ran 
across  the  grounds  to  look  for  them. 

The  judges  were  awarding  prizes  for  the 
finest  sheep,  and  the  long  low  building 
was  crowded  with  people,  but  there  was 
no  sign  of  Harry's  friends. 

"Where  can  they  be?"    he  said,  half 
91 


FIREBRANDS 

aloud.  "They  may  have  gone  over  to 
see  the  cows  milked  by  machinery.  I'll 
go  there  next." 

Just  as  he  went  out  of  the  farther  door 
of  the  sheep-shed  he  met  two  men  coming 
in.  One  of  the  men  was  smoking,  and  as 
he  entered  the  shed  he  threw  away  the 
short  end  of  his  cigar.  It  fell  in  the  dry 
grass  near  a  pile  of  straw. 

In  a  minute  West  Wind  came  scurrying 
across  the  field,  and  it  was  not  long  before 
he  found  the  lighted  cigar. 

"What  are  you  doing  down  there  in  the 
grass?  "  said  West  Wind.  "  Why  don't  you 
burn  and  have  a  good  smoke  by  yourself?" 

The  red  tip  of  the  cigar  shone  brighter 
at  the  words.  "So  I  will,"  it  said,  and  it 
sent  up  a  thin  curl  of  blue  smoke. 

"Pouf!  pouf!"  said  West  Wind.  "Can't 
you  do  better  than  that?" 

"Of  course  I  can,"  and  the  stub  burned 
still  brighter. 

"Now  I'll  show  you  a  good  smoke," 
92 


TEE    COUNTY   FAIR 

said  West  Wind,  and  he  blew  some  dry 
grass  over  the  cigar. 

The  grass  blazed  up  and  set  fire  to  the 
straw,  and  then  there  was  some  smoke, 
—  you  may  be  sure! 

West  Wind  danced  over  the  grass  with 
glee.  He  whirled  round  and  round,  tossing 
fresh  straw  to  the  flames,  and  blowing  up 
the  smoke  in  soft  clouds. 

In  a  little  while  Harry  came  back,  still 
hunting  for  his  friends.  A  puff  of  smoke 
caught  his  eye  and  he  ran  to  see  what  was 
burning.  By  this  time  the  straw  had  set 
fire  to  the  end  of  the  sheep-shed,  and  the 
flames  were  eating  their  way  toward  the 
low  roof. 

"Fire!"  shouted  Harry;  but  the  crowd 
had  gone  over  to  see  the  milking  and  there 
was  no  one  in  sight. 

"Some  one  will  come  in  a  minute,"  he 
thought,  and  he  snatched  off  his  coat  and 
beat  back  the  flames  as  they  ran  up  the 
dry  boards. 


FIREBRANDS 

"Fire!"  he  shouted  again,  at  the  top 
of  his  voice.  This  time  a  man  who  was 
feeding  the  lambs  heard  him  and  came  out 
with  a  pail  of  water;  and  then  it  did  not 
take  long  to  put  out  the  fire. 

Just  as  Harry  was  stamping  out  the 
last  flickering  flames  in  the  burning  straw, 
a  policeman  came  running  out.  "Here, 
what  are  you  doing?  "  he  cried. 

"Putting  out  this  fire,"  replied  the 
little  boy. 

"I  suppose  you  started  it,  too,"  said 
the  policeman.  "I  never  saw  a  boy  yet 
who  could  keep  out  of  mischief." 

Just  then  the  two  men  came  to  the  door 
of  the  sheep-shed.  "  What  is  the  matter?  " 
they  asked. 

"This  boy  says  he  was  putting  out  a 
fire,  and  I  think  he  must  have  set  it,"  the 
policeman  told  them. 

"No,  sir,"  said  Harry,  "I  did  n't  set  the 
straw  on  fire.    It  was  burning  when  I  came 
up,  and  I  tried  to  put  it  out." 
94 


TEE    COUNTY   FAIR 

"I  was  smoking  a  cigar  when  I  went 
into  the  shed,"  spoke  up  one  of  the  men, 
"and  I  threw  it  away.  It  must  have  set 
fire  to  the  straw.  It  was  a  very  careless 
thing  to  do,  and  if  it  had  n't  been  for  this 
boy  we  might  have  had  a  terrible  fire." 

Just  then  Harry  thought  of  his  coat. 
It  \vas  his  very  best  one,  and  his  mother 
had  told  him  to  be  careful  of  it.  He  held 
it  up  and  looked  at  it.  One  sleeve  was 
scorched,  there  were  two  or  three  holes 
in  the  back,  and  the  whole  coat  was  cov- 
ered with  straw  and  dirt. 

By  this  time  a  crowd  had  begun  to 
gather,  just  as  a  crowd  always  gathers 
around  a  policeman,  and  the  story  had 
to  be  told  all  over  again. 

"He  saved  my  -sheep!"  said  one  of  the 
men. 

"And  mine,  too,"  added  another. 

"Let's  help  him  to  get  a  new  coat;" 
and  he  took  off  his  hat  and  began  to  pass 

it  around  in  the  crowd. 
95 


FIREBRANDS 

Just  then  a  newspaper  reporter  came  up 
with  his  camera,  and,  of  course,  he  wanted 
to  take  Harry's  picture.  When  the  news- 
paper was  published  next  day,  there  was 
the  picture,  and  the  whole  story  of  the 
ten-year-old  boy  whose  quick  thought 
and  quick  work  had  saved  the  sheep-shed 
and  all  the  valuable  sheep  from  fire. 

What  is  exhibited  at  a  County  Fair? 
Why  is  the  fair  held  in  the  fall? 
What  did  the  boys  see  at  the  fair? 
What  set  the  grass  on  fire? 
How  did  Harry  put  out  the  fire? 
Why  is  it  careless  to  throw  away  a  lighted 
cigar? 

Lighted  cigars  thrown  carelessly  into 
dry  grass  or  rubbish  have  caused  many 
fires.  Burning  tobacco  shaken  from  a  pipe 
is  even  more  dangerous,  and  a  lighted 
cigarette  is  still  worse,  as  some  brands  of 
cigarettes  will  burn  two  or  three  minutes 
after  they  are  thrown  away.  When  they 
96 


THE   COUNTY   FAIR 

are  thrown  from  upper  windows,  they 
frequently  lodge  upon  awnings,  setting 
them  on  fire.  Cigarette  and  cigar  stubs 
in  the  streets  sometimes  set  fire  to  women's 
skirts.  Occasionally  a  man  burns  his  own 
clothing  by  putting  a  lighted  pipe  in  his 
pocket,  or  he  sets  the  bed-clothing  on  fire 
by  smoking  in  bed. 


97 


"LITTLE  FAULTS" 

JAMIE  and  his  mother  were  talking 
together  very  earnestly.     The  boy's 
face    looked    cross    and    impatient, 
while  his  mother's  was  sad  and  serious. 

Mrs.  Burnham  had  sent  Jamie  to  the 
store  to  buy  a  yard  of  muslin  and  a  spool 
of  thread.  When  he  gave  her  back  the 
change,  she  counted  it,  and  saw  at  once, 
that  there  were  three  pennies  missing. 

If  this  had  been  the  first  time  that 
Jamie  had  brought  his  mother  too  little 
change,  she  would  have  thought  a  mistake 
had  been  made  at  the  store,  or  that  he 
had  lost  the  money. 

She  would  have  been  glad  to  believe  it 
now.     But  after  she  had  questioned  him, 
she  felt  sure,  by  looking  into  his  eyes  - 
eyes  that  did  not  look  back  into  hers  — 
98 


"LITTLE   FAULT 8" 

that  the  boy  whom  she  loved,  and  wished 
to  trust,  had  used  the  pennies  to  buy  some- 
thing for  himself,  and  was  trying  to  deceive 
her. 

"Oh,  Jamie!"  she  said,  "you  don't 
know  how  it  troubles  me  to  think  you 
would  do  such  a  thing;"  and  her  eyes 
filled  with  tears  as  she  looked  into  her 
son's  face. 

Jamie  really  was  a  little  ashamed,  but 
he  did  n't  like  to  say  so.  "Oh,  Mother,  you 
make  such  a  fuss  over  nothing!"  he 
answered,  turning  to  look  out  of  the 
window.  "It  was  only  two  or  three 
pennies!  I  don't  see  why  you  should  feel 
so  badly  over  such  a  little  thing.  What  if 
I  did  spend  them  for  something  else?" 

"I  know  it  is  a  little  thing,"  his  mother 
told  him.  "It  isn't  the  pennies  I  care 
about.  I  would  have  given  them  to  you 
gladly  if  you  had  asked  for  them;  but  I 
cannot  bear  to  have  you  take  them  and 
not  tell  the  truth  about  it. 
99 


FIREBRANDS 

"It  is  only  a  little  fault,  I  know;  but 
little  faults  grow  into  big  ones,  just  as 
little  boys  grow  into  big  men.  You  must 
look  out  for  your  little  faults  now,  Jamie, 
or  you  will  have  big  ones  when  you  are  a 
man.  A  boy  ten  years  old  should  know 
the  difference  between  right  and  wrong." 

Jamie  did  not  seem  as  sorry  as  his 
mother  wished  he  were.  "You  needn't 
worry  about  me,"  he  said,  "I'm  not 
going  to  get  into  any  trouble;"  and  he 
put  on  his  cap  and  went  out  to  join  his 
playmates. 

A  few  days  later  Mrs.  Burnham  saw 
him  on  the  street  with  a  crowd  of  boys 
who  were  snow-balling  the  passers-by. 
When  he  came  home  that  night,  she  said, 
"I  wish  you  would  not  play  with  those 
boys.  They  are  rough  and  rude,  and  I 
don't  like  them.  They  are  not  the  kind 
of  friends  I  want  you  to  choose." 

This  time  Jamie  was  decidedly  cross. 
"Why  do  you  find  fault  with  every  little 
100 


"LITTLE    FAULTS" 

thing?"  he  asked.  "Can't  you  trust  me 
to  take  care  of  myself?" 

"I  am  trying  to  teach  you  how  to  do  it," 
his  mother  replied;  "and  I  want  you  to 
help  me." 

But  this  lesson  seemed  to  be  a  hard  one 
for  the  boy  to  learn.  It  was  not  many 
days  before  his  teacher  saw  him  copying  an 
example  from  the  paper  of  a  boy  who  sat 
in  front  of  him  in  school. 

"What  are  you  doing,  James  Burn- 
ham?"  Miss  Jackson  asked  quickly.  "I 
want  you  to  do  those  examples  yourself, 
not  copy  them  from  some  one  else.  Bring 
your  paper  here  at  once.  I  am  sorry  I 
cannot  trust  you." 

Jamie  put  the  paper  on  the  teacher's 
desk,  and  as  he  did  so  he  said,  "I  know 
how  to  do  the  examples.  I  don't  see  why 
you  should  care  about  such  a  little  thing 
as  that." 

"Perhaps  it  may  seem  only  a  little  thing 
to  you,"  replied  Miss  Jackson;  "but 
101 


FIREBRANDS 

unless  you  are  an  honest  boy  you  will 
never  be  an  honest  man.  Try  to  do  just 
what  is  right  every  day,  or  you  will  get  into 
serious  trouble  before  you  know  it." 

Five  or  six  years  later  Miss  Jackson  was 
visiting  an  Industrial  School  for  boys, 
when  suddenly  she  caught  sight  of  a  fa- 
miliar face. 

"Who  is  that?"  she  asked  the  super- 
intendent who  was  conducting  her  over 
the  buildings,  and  she  pointed  to  a  boy 
who  was  working  at  a  carpenter's  bench. 

"His  name  is  James  Burnham,"  replied 
the  superintendent.  "He  has  been  here 
two  or  three  years,  but  we  are  going  to 
send  him  home  next  month.  He  is  a 
pretty  good  boy  now." 

"He  used  to  go  to  school  to  me,"  said 
Miss  Jackson.  "I  think  he  meant  well, 
but  he  was  careless  about  little  things, 
and  did  n't  always  choose  the  right 
friends." 

"That  was  just  the  trouble,"  Mr.  Bruce 
102 


I 
I 

A 

I 

>% 

1 

a, 


"LITTLE   FAULT 8" 

told  her.  "He  got  into  the  company  of 
some  bad  boys,  and  they  led  him  into  all 
kinds  of  mischief.  At  last  they  began 
setting  fires  to  some  of  the  old  barns  in 
the  town;  but  one  night  there  was  a  high 
wind  that  blew  the  sparks  to  a  house  near 
by,  and  it  was  burned  to  the  ground. 
Then  the  police  caught  the  boys,  and  they 
were  all  sent  away  to  schools  like  this. 
It  has  been  a  good  lesson  for  James,  and 
his  mother  is  proud  of  his  improvement." 
"Boys  don't  realize  what  a  dangerous 
thing  fire  is,"  said  Miss  Jackson,  as  she 
turned  to  go  home.  "If  they  only  knew 
how  much  property  is  destroyed  by  fire 
every  year,  a  large  part  of  it  through 
carelessness,  they  would  be  more  thought- 
ful about  starting  a  tiny  blaze  that  might 
so  easily  become  a  great  conflagration." 

What  were  Jamie's  " little  faults"  ? 
Into  what  trouble  did  they  lead  him? 
Why  did  the  boys  set  fire  to  the  old  barns? 
103 


FIREBRANDS 

Why  is  it  dangerous  to  burn  any  build- 
ing, no  matter  how  old  or  useless  it  is? 

Did  you  ever  see  a  big  fire  in  the  country? 
In  the  city? 

Describe  it.  What  damage  did  it  do? 
How  was  it  extinguished? 

Have  you  read  in  the  newspaper  about 
any  big  fires  recently? 

Where  were  they,  and  how  were  they  caused? 

Was  your  own  house  ever  on  fire?  What 
did  you  do? 

It  is  against  the  law  to  burn  a  building, 
even  if  it  is  nothing  but  an  old  barn.  No 
one  can  tell  where  a  fire  will  end  if  it  once 
gets  a  good  start.  Sparks  will  fly  in  all 
directions,  and  if  there  is  a  high  wind  they 
will  blow  for  a  long  distance  and  set  fire 
to  the  roofs  of  other  buildings. 

A  man  who  willfully  sets  fire  to  his  own 
property,  or  that  of  his  neighbors,  is  liable 
to  imprisonment.  Arson  is  a  serious  crime 
and  calls  for  severe  punishment. 

104 


TEN  YOUNG  RATS 

MR.  and  Mrs.  Rat  had  ten  babies. 
They  were  fat,  glossy,  little  fel- 
lows, with  long  tails  and  shining 
black  eyes,  and  they  lived  in  a  snug  nest 
in  the  attic. 

You  can't  imagine  how  hard  it  was  for 
their  father  and  mother  to  find  names  for 
so  many  children.  Mrs.  Rat  wanted  this 
name;  Mr.  Rat  preferred  that;  but  they 
could  n't  agree  on  a  single  one.  At  last 
they  decided  to  wait  until  the  babies  were 
grown  up,  then  they  could  tell  just  what 
name  would  suit  each  one  best. 

It  does  not  take  long  for  baby  rats  to 
grow  up,  and  in  two  or  three  weeks  Father 
and  Mother  Rat  began  to  name  their 
children. 

The  biggest  one  was  Jumbo,  the  smallest 
they  called  Tiny.  One  had  a  very  long  tail 
105 


FIREBRANDS 

and  he  was  called  Long  Tail;  another  had 
almost  no  tail  at  all,  so  he  was  named 
Bobby. 

One  rat  was  named  Whiskers,  because 
he  had  such  handsome  whiskers,  and  Spot 
had  a  tiny  white  spot  over  one  of  his  eyes. 
Then  there  were  Frisky,  and  Squeaker,  and 
Listen,  and  Duncie. 

Mother  Rat  did  n't  like  Duncie's  name 
at  all;  but  he  was  so  very,  very  slow  and 
stupid  that  Father  Rat  would  n't  let  her 
call  him  anything  else. 

"We  can't  expect  every  one  of  our  ten. 
children  to  be  smart,"  he  said.     "If  he 
is   a   dunce  we  must  call  him   a  dunce. 
That's  all  there  is  to  it." 

Of  course  all  these  brothers  and  sisters 
had  very  jolly  times  together.  They  played 
tag,  and  hide-and-seek,  and  blind-man's 
buff,  and  all  sorts  of  good  games;  but 
sometimes  they  had  dreadful  quarrels. 
In  such  a  large  family  there  are  bound  to 
be  quarrels  once  in  a  while. 
106 


TEN    YOUNG   EATS 

When  they  began  to  scratch  and  bite, 
Father  Rat  gave  them  all  a  good  spank- 
ing and  sent  them  to  bed.  Then  Mother 
Rat  crept  up  to  tuck  them  in,  with 
a  big  piece  of  cheese  hidden  under  her 
apron. 

The  children  usually  obeyed  their  father 
and  mother,  and  tried  to  be  good  little 
rats;  but  like  all  boys  and  girls  they 
sometimes  thought  they  knew  more  than 
their  parents.  Then  they  got  into  trouble. 

Father  Rat  had  built  his  nest  in  the 
attic  of  an  old-fashioned  farmhouse  out  in 
the  country. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barnes,  who  lived  in  the 
house,  did  n't  seem  to  know  anything 
about  the  ten  young  rats  in  the  attic. 
Perhaps  it  was  because  they  were  very  old 
and  deaf,  and  did  n't  hear  the  little  feet 
pattering  across  the  floors  and  scampering 
up  and  down  the  walls. 

But  the  ten  young  rats  knew  all  about 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barnes.  They  knew  where 
107 


FIREBRANDS 

Mrs.  Barnes  kept  her  cheeses  and  cookies, 
and  they  gnawed  big  holes  and  made  good 
roads  through  the  walls  from  the  attic  to 
the  pantry  and  cellar. 

They  could  find  their  way  to  the  barn, 
too,  where  Mr.  Barnes  kept  his  corn  and 
oats;  and  sometimes  they  used  to  slip 
into  his  hen-house  and  steal  an  egg  for 
their  supper. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rat  were  very  thoughtful 
about  teaching  their  children.  Every 
morning  there  was  a  long  lesson  in  the 
schoolroom  corner  of  the  attic.  The  ten 
young  rats  sat  up  straight  in  a  row  and 
did  just  as  they  were  told. 

"Sniff!"  said  their  mother,  and  they 
sniffed  their  little  noses  this  way  and  that 
to  see  if  they  could  smell  a  cat. 

"Listen!"  said  their  father,  and  they 
cocked  their  little  heads  on  one  side,  and 
pricked  up  their  ears  to  hear  the  tiniest 
scratch  he  could  make. 

"Scamper!"  and  they  ran  across  the 
108 


TEN   YOUNG   EATS 

floor  and  slipped  into  a  hole  as  quick  as 
a  wink. 

They  were  taught  to  steal  eggs,  and  to 
avoid  traps,  and  when  they  had  a  lesson 
in  apples  you  should  have  seen  them  work ! 
Every  one  of  them,  except  Duncie,  of 
course,  could  gnaw  into  an  apple  and  pick 
out  the  seeds  before  Mother  Rat  could 
count  ten. 

In  Mrs.  Barnes'  storeroom  there  were 
long  rows  of  tumblers  filled  with  jelly. 
The  tumblers  were  all  sealed  with  paraf- 
fine,  but  the  rats  soon  learned  how  to  gnaw 
it  off,  and  then  what  a  feast  they  had ! 

They  were  growing  so  bold  that  Father 

Rat   began    to    be    anxious    about    them. 

'You  children  ought  to  be  a  little  more 

careful,"  he  said.    "You'll  get  into  trouble 

some  day." 

"We  never  have  been  caught,"  said 
Squeaker. 

"No,"  said  Frisky,  "and  we  never  will 
be.    We  know  too  much  for  that*" 
109 


FIREBRANDS 

One  morning  Father  and  Mother  Rat 
went  to  visit  an  old  uncle  who  lived  down 
beside  the  pond,  and  they  left  the  ten 
young  rats  all  alone. 

The  minute  they  were  gone  Long  Tail 
whispered,  "Come  on,  Ratsies;  let's  go 
down  to  the  cellar  for  some  jelly." 

"Father  told  us  not  to,"  answered 
Whiskers. 

"'Fraid  cat,  'fraid  cat!"  cried  Frisky. 
"Who's  going  to  be  a  'fraid  cat?" 

"Not  I,"  said  Spottie.  "Not  I,"  said 
Bobby;  and  in  two  seconds  they  were 
every  one  scampering  down  to  the  store- 
room. 

They  nibbled  away  at  the  jelly  for  a 
little  while,  but  Bobby  soon  found  a  stone 
jar  with  a  cover  on  it. 

"Come  over  here,  Ratsies,"  he  called. 

Whiskers  sniffed  at  the  cover  three 
times.  "There  are  grape  preserves  in  that 
jar,"  he  said  at  last. 

"We  must  have  some,"  cried  Bobby. 
110 


TEN   YOUNG  RATS 

"Yes,  yes,"  squeaked  Tiny;  "there?s 
nothing  I  like  half  so  well  as  grape 
preserves." 

"I  am  the  biggest,"  said  Jumbo,  "so 
I  ought  to  get  off  the  cover."  He  pulled 
and  pushed,  and  worked  away  until  the 
cover  came  off. 

"Goody,  goody,  goody!"  squealed  all 
the  rats  together,  and  they  plunged  in 
their  paws  and  gobbled  up  the  grapes  so 
fast  that  their  faces  were  soon  purple  and 
sticky  with  the  sweet  preserve. 

They  were  not  very  quiet  about  it, 
either.  They  forgot  there  was  some  one 
else  in  the  house. 

Suddenly  Listen  pricked  up  his  ears. 
"Ratsies,"  he  whispered,  "I  hear  a  noise." 

And,  sure  enough,  he  did  hear  a  noise; 
for  down  the  cellar  stairs  came  Nig,  the 
big  black  cat. 

Then  how  those  rats  did  scamper! 
They  ran  this  way  and  that,  across  the 
floor,  and  up  the  wall,  and  under  boxes 
111 


FIREBRANDS 

and  barrels.  It  seemed  to  Nig  as  if  the 
cellar  were  full  of  rats.  She  caught  one 
for  her  dinner.  It  was  Duncie,  of  course; 
and  then  there  were  only  nine  rats  in  the 
family. 

They  were  all  more  careful  for  a  little 
while;  but  young  rats  are  very  venture- 
some, and  it  was  n't  many  days  before 
they  wanted  to  go  down  into  the  pantry. 

Listen  said  he  had  n't  heard  a  sound  all 
the  morning,  and  so  they  decided  to  creep 
down  very  quietly. 

The  truth  was  that  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Barnes  had  gone  away  for  a  month,  and 
the  house  was  empty;  but  of  course  the 
rats  did  n't  know  anything  about  that. 

There  was  n't  a  single  crumb  on  the 
pantry  shelves,  so  they  crept  into  the 
kitchen.  Whiskers  gave  a  long  sniff,  and 
before  the  others  knew  what  he  was  do- 
ing, he  was  up  on  a  shelf  behind  the  stove. 

"Come  on,  brothers  and  sisters,"  he 
squealed.  "Here  is  something  that  smells 
112 


TEN    YOUNG   EATS 

good.  It  seems  to  be  on  the  end  of  little 
sticks,  but  we  can  gnaw  it  off." 

"Of  course  we  can,"  cried  Jumbo. 
"Let's  all  get  to  work."  He  tossed  the 
matches  around  on  the  shelf,  and  the 
nine  rats  went  to  work  with  a  will. 

Suddenly  there  was  a  hot  little  flame. 
Spot's  eye-teeth  were  very  sharp,  and  he 
had  lighted  the  phosphorus  on  the  end  of 
his  match.  The  flame  lighted  another 
match,  and  a  little  fire  was  soon  burning 
merrily. 

It  happened  that  Mr.  Barnes  had  left 
a  pile  of  old  papers  on  the  shelf  beside 
the  matches.  They  quickly  took  fire,  and 
the  frightened  rat  children  fled  in  terror 
to  the  attic. 

"Oh,  Mother!  Oh,  Father!"  they 
screamed,  "something  dreadful  has  hap- 
pened in  the  kitchen!" 

"There  was  a  bright  light,  and  a  queer 
smell  that  choked  us,"  panted  Whiskers. 

Father  Rat  understood  at  once  that 
113 


FIREBRANDS 

there  was  a  fire.  He  scolded  the  nine 
young  rats  for  being  in  the  kitchen  at  all. 
"We  are  in  great  danger,"  he  said.  "We 
must  give  up  this  home,  and  try  to  save 
our  lives.  I  can  smell  the  smoke  now. 
Hurry,  children,  hurry!" 

Luckily  rats  don't  have  to  pack  up  their 
clothes  or  throw  their  furniture  out  of 
the  window.  They  escaped  with  their 
lives;  but  the  old  farmhouse  was  burned 
to  the  ground,  all  because  Mr.  Barnes 
had  left  the  matches  on  the  shelf  beside 
the  papers. 

Where  did  Father  Rat  build  his  nest? 

Why  do  rats  prefer  such  places  for  their 
home? 

What  food  did  the  young  rats  find  in  the 
storeroom? 

What  did  they  find  in  the  kitchen? 

What  did  they  do  with  the  matches? 

What  happened?     Why? 

How  should  this  fire  have  been  avoided? 
114 


TEN   YOUNG   RATS 

Rats  and  mice  are  attracted  to  places 
where  they  can  obtain  food,  such  as  barns 
where  grain  is  kept,  rooms  where  food  is 
stored  or  where  refuse  is  thrown.  Build- 
ings, so  far  as  possible,  should  be  made 
"rat-proof."  To  insure  safety,  matches 
should  be  kept  in  tin  cans,  metal  boxes,  or 
jars. 


115 


HOW  NOT  TO  HAVE  FIRES 


T  "IT  THEN  a  boy  plays  with  matches, 

Yr  Y     or  a  man  carelessly  throws  away 

a  lighted  cigar,  he  does  not  stop 

to  think  that  the  fire  he  causes  goes  to 

make  up  a  part  of  the  tremendous  fire  loss 

in  our  country. 

This  loss  amounts  to  about  $250,000,000 
a  year.  Sometimes,  if  there  is  a  big  fire  in 
one  of  our  large  cities,  the  sum  is  much 
greater;  sometimes  it  is  a  little  less. 

This  average  loss  of  $250,000,000  means 
that  property  is  burned  up  at  the  rate  of 
$500  a  minute  for  every  one  of  the  sixty  min- 
utes in  every  one  of  the  twenty-four  hours 
in  all  the  three  hundred  and  sixty -five  days 
in  the  year.  If  this  seems  impossible  to  you, 
just  multiply  $500  by  60  X  24  X  365. 
116 


HOW  NOT   TO   HAVE   FIRES 

It  is  said  that  two-thirds  of  all  the  fires 
in  the  country  are  caused  by  carelessness, 
ignorance,  or  lack  of  proper  precaution, 
and  that  they  might  have  been  prevented. 
The  question  before  every  one  in  the  United 
States  —  men,  women,  and  children  —  is 
how  not  to  have  so  many  fires,  —  because 
the  fires  destroy  forests  which  require  at 
least  fifty  years  to  grow,  timber  which 
conies  from  these  slow-growing  forests, 
houses  which  have  been  built  at  great  cost 
of  time,  labor,  and  money,  and  treasures 
and  heirlooms  which  can  never  be  replaced. 

Besides  this  loss  of  property  there  is 
also  a  great  loss  of  life,  which  is  too  appall- 
ing to  consider  in  this  little  book. 

The  very  best  way  not  to  have  fires  is 
not  to  set  them.  If  you  stop  to  think  of 
it,  there  are  not  so  very  many  different 
things  that  will  start  fires.  Matches, 
kerosene,  gas,  gasoline,  hot  sparks,  burn- 
ing tobacco,  fires  in  stoves,  furnaces,  and 
fire-places,  hot  ashes,  lightning,  and  fires 
117 


FIREBRANDS 

which  start  themselves  by  "  spontaneous 
combustion,"  are  the  common  causes  of 
our  losses;  but  there  are  hundreds,  almost 
thousands,  of  different  ways  in  which 
fires  are  set  with  these  few  materials. 

Matches  are  one  of  the  most  useful 
things  in  the  house,  and  also  one  of  the 
most  dangerous.  They  should  be  kept  in 
a  covered  dish,  out  of  the  reach  of  children; 
and  they  should  never  be  left  lying  around 
loose.  The  parlor  match  is  especially 
dangerous  as  the  head  often  flies  off  into 
curtains  or  clothing.  After  a  match  is 
once  lighted  it  should  never  be  thrown 
down  carelessly.  Put  the  stick  that  is 
left  in  the  stove  or  in  a  match  receiver. 
Never  throw  it  in  a  basket  of  waste  paper 
or  on  the  floor.  Even  if  it  is  thrown  on 
the  ground  it  might  set  fire  to  dry  grass  or 
leaves. 

You  start  a  fire  when  you  light  a  match. 
See  that  you  put  it  out. 

Kerosene,  used  in  lamps,  lanterns,  and 
118 


HOW   NOT    TO   HAVE   FIRES 

oil-stoves,  has  caused  untold  loss  and  suf- 
fering. Never  fill  a  lamp,  lantern,  or  oil- 
stove  when  it  is  lighted.  Never  use  kero- 
sene to  start  the  fire  in  the  kitchen  range. 
Never  leave  a  lamp  burning  when  you  go 
out  of  the  room,  as  it  may  explode  or  fill 
the  house  with  smoke.  Keep  your  lamps 
clean  and  see  that  the  wick  fits  the  burner. 
A  clean,  well-kept  lamp  will  not  explode. 

Never  set  a  lamp  on  the  table  so  that  it 
can  be  easily  tipped  over,  or  on  a  sewing- 
machine  where  it  can  be  pushed  off  with 
the  work.  Turn  the  wick  down  half-way 
before  blowing  out  the  lamp,  and  when 
the  lamp  is  not  lighted  keep  the  wick  be- 
low the  burner  so  that  the  oil  will  not  be 
drawn  up  and  spread  over  the  outside  of 
the  lamp.  Never  carry  a  lighted  lamp 
into  a  closet  where  clothing  is  hanging. 
An  electric  flash-light  is  the  only  thing 
which  can  be  used  for  this  purpose  with 
safety. 

Gasoline  is  sometimes  used  in  the  house 
119 


FIREBRANDS 

for  cleaning  clothing,  curtains,  gloves,  etc. 
There  is  no  material  in  the  world  so  danger- 
ous to  handle,  except  possibly  dynamite. 
Gasoline  gives  off  a  large  volume  of  vapor 
which  is  both  inflammable  and  explosive. 
For  this  reason  it  should  never  be  used  in  a 
room  where  there  is  a  candle,  a  lamp,  a 
lighted  cigar,  or  where  there  is  a  fire  in  the 
stove.  The  only  safe  place  to  use  gasoline 
is  out  of  doors,  and  even  then  the  greatest 
caution  should  be  taken.  Keep  the  doors 
and  windows  closed  so  that  none  of  the 
vapor  can  get  into  the  house,  and  be  very 
careful  not  to  let  any  one  come  near  you 
with  a  lighted  cigar  or  pipe.  Throw  the 
waste  gasoline  on  the  ground;  never  pour 
it  in  the  sink  or  down  a  waste  pipe. 

Gasoline,  naphtha,  and  benzine  are  simi- 
lar substances,  and  are  equally  explosive 
and  dangerous.  All  cans  containing  either 
one  should  be  plainly  marked  to  avoid  mis- 
takes, and  should  not  be  kept  in  or  near 
the  building.  Many  cleaning  and  polish- 
120 


HOW  NOT   TO    HAVE   FIRE 8 

ing  compounds  contain  naphtha,  and 
should  therefore  be  handled  with  extreme 
caution. 

Never  leave  any  of  these  cans  uncovered. 
Beware  of  leaks  in  the  cans,  and  never 
forget  that  you  are  handling  a  dangerous 
material. 

Hot  ashes  cause  many  fires.  They  should 
never  be  thrown  into  a  wooden  box  or 
barrel,  or  piled  up  against  the  house,  barn, 
or  fence.  Put  them  in  a  metal  barrel  with 
a  metal  cover.  Do  not  put  waste  paper, 
rags,  or  rubbish  in  the  ash  barrel.  Ashes 
will  sometimes  take  fire  of  themselves,  by 
spontaneous  combustion,  if  they  are  wet. 
This  is  why  it  is  unsafe  to  leave  an  ash 
pile  near  a  fence  or  building. 

Waste  papers,  rubbish,  greasy  cloths, 
oily  waste  and  rags  should  be  destroyed. 
They  should  never  be  allowed  to  collect 
in  cellars,  attics,  or  closets,  under  the  stairs 
or  in  the  yard.  Keep  the  whole  house 
clean.  Dust,  dirt,  and  rubbish  are  fire- 


FIREBRANDS 

breeders.  This  is  especially  true  in  facto- 
ries, shops,  fruit  and  grocery  stores,  school- 
houses,  churches,  and  all  public  buildings. 
It  is  cheaper  to  throw  away  barrels,  boxes, 
papers,  sawdust,  painter's  cloths,  old  rags 
—  waste  of  any  kind  —  than  to  burn  it  up 
by  setting  the  house  on  fire. 


THE  KITCHEN  FIRE 

TOMMY  TAYLOR  was  a  lazy  boy,  — 
there   was  n't   a   doubt   of   it.      He 
did  n't  like  to  get  up  in  the  morning, 
and  he  did  n't  like  to  go  to  school.    When 
his  mother  asked  him  to  bring  in  some 
wood,  he  always  said,  "Can't  you  wait  a 
minute?"  and  if  she  wanted  him  to  do  an 
errand  he  would  answer,  "Oh  dear!  must 
I  do  it  now?" 

He  liked  to  play  ball,  of  course;  and  he 
would  spend  the  whole  afternoon  building 
a  snow  fort  or  carrying  pails  of  water  to 
make  a  hill  icy  for  coasting;  but  he  did  n't 
call  that  work.  It  was  play,  and  Tommy 
was  n't  one  bit  lazy  about  playing. 

One  noon  when  Tommy  and  his  sister 
were    eating    dinner    their    mother    said, 
"I'm  going  shopping  this  afternoon,  and 
123 


FIREBRANDS 

I  may  not  get  home  until  half-past  five. 
I  want  both  of  you  children  to  come 
straight  home  from  school,  and  at  five 
o'clock  you  can  build  the  kitchen  fire  and 
put  the  tea-kettle  on  the  stove.  If  you 
have  a  good  fire  it  will  not  take  me  long 
to  get  supper  ready. 

"Alice  may  take  the  key  because  she  is 
older  and  more  careful.  She  may  build 
the  fire,  too;  but  you,  Tommy,  must  get 
the  wood,  and  help  her  all  you  can." 

Alice  was  only  twelve  years  old,  two 
years  older  than  Tommy,  but  she  felt 
very  much  grown  up  as  she  started  off 
for  school  with  the  key  of  the  back  door 
in  her  pocket. 

"Wait  for  me  to-night  at  the  school- 
yard gate,"  she  told  her  brother,  as  they 
separated  at  the  door  to  go  to  their  class- 
rooms. 

"All  right,"  said  Tommy,  "I  will  wait 
for  you."  But  he  forgot  his  promise  when 
Jack  Marsh  whispered  to  him  that  the 


THE   KITCHEN   FIRE 

boys  were  going  to  build  a  snow  fort  in 
his  yard;  and  he  went  whooping  off  with 
them  the  minute  school  was  over,  eager 
for  the  fun  of  a  snow  fight. 

It  was  nearly  five  o'clock  when  he  re- 
membered that  his  mother  had  told  him 
to  go  straight  home  from  school,  but  he 
stopped  for  just  one  more  snowball  battle, 
and  when  he  finally  reached  home  he  found 
Alice  at  the  door  watching  for  him. 

"Here,  Tommy,"  she  said,  "take  this 
basket  and  get  me  some  chips  in  the  wood- 
shed. There  are  enough  big  sticks  for  the 
fire;  but  you  forgot  to  bring  in  the  kindling 
this  noon." 

"I  didn't  have  time,"  said  Tommy, 
hurrying  off  with  the  basket;  "but  I'll 
get  you  some  good  chips  in  a  minute." 

When  he  began  to  pick  up  the  chips,  he 
found  that  they  were  all  wet  with  snow, 
for  the  last  time  it  stormed  he  had  left 
the  door  open  and  the  snow  had  blown  in 
on  the  woodpile.  There  were  some  dry 
125 


FIREBRANDS 

chips  in  a  farther  corner,  but  it  was  too 
much  work  to  climb  over  the  wood  to 
get  them,  and  besides,  Alice  was  in  a  hurry; 
so  he  picked  up  the  wet  chips,  shook  off 
the  snow,  and  carried  the  basketful  into 
the  kitchen. 

"I  don't  believe  I  can  build  the  fire  with 
this  kind  of  kindling,"  said  Alice,  as  she 
began  laying  it  in  the  stove.  "It  is  so 
wet  that  it  will  not  burn." 

"Oh,  yes,  it  will,  if  you  use  paper 
enough,"  her  brother  told  her,  and  when 
Alice  struck  a  match  and  lighted  the  fire 
it  went  roaring  up  the  chimney. 

"I  knew  those  chips  would  burn,"  said 
Tommy.  "Now  put  in  some  big  sticks 
of  wood." 

Just  then  the  fire  stopped  roaring,  and 
when  Alice  lifted  the  cover  to  find  out 
what  was  the  matter,  she  could  see  noth- 
ing but  a  thin  curl  of  smoke. 

"Put  in  some  more  paper,"  her  brother 
advised,  "you  did  n't  have  enough  before." 
126 


THE   KITCHEN   FIRE 

So  Alice  put  in  more  paper  and  chips, 
and  lighted  the  fire  again.  It  burned  up 
brightly  for  a  minute  and  then  settled 
down  into  a  discouraging  smoulder. 

"Oh  dear!"  she  sighed,  as  she  took  off 
the  cover  and  looked  into  the  stove  once 
more,  "there  is  nothing  but  a  tiny  blaze 
down  in  one  corner.  Run  and  get  some 
dry  chips,  Tommy.  I  can't  do  anything 
with  these  wet  ones." 

"I'll  tell  you  what  to  do,"  said  her 
brother,  who  was  putting  on  his  slippers 
and  did  n't  want  to  go  out  to  the  shed 
again;  "pour  in  some  kerosene.  That 
will  make  the  fire  burn.  I  saw  Mother  do 
it  once  when  she  was  in  a  hurry." 

"That's  so,"  said  Alice.  "I  didn't 
think  of  that,"  and  she  went  to  the  closet 
to  get  the  kerosene  can.  It  was  so  light 
when  she  lifted  it  that  she  thought  it 
must  be  empty;  but  when  she  shook  it 
she  found  there  was  a  very  little  oil  in  the 

bottom  of  the  can. 

127 


FIREBRANDS 

"Here,  I'll  pour  it  on  for  you,"  said 
Tommy,  and  as  Alice  raised  the  cover  of 
the  stove,  he  tipped  up  the  can  and  poured 
a  tiny  stream  of  oil  over  the  wet  wood. 

The  little  blaze  in  the  corner  was  still 
flickering  feebly.  It  saw  the  oil  coming 
and  rushed  up  to  meet  it.  "  Whee-ee-ee ! " 
it  cried,  "-there's  something  that  will 
burn.  That's  just  what  I  like;"  and  it 
ran  merrily  across  the  wood  and  flashed 
up  to  the  can  in  Tommy's  hand. 

Tommy  was  so  frightened  that  he  let 
the  can  fall  on  the  floor,  but  not  before 
the  oil  in  it  had  caught  fire.  Fortunately 
there  were  only  a  few  drops  left,  so  the  can 
did  not  explode;  but  the  wood  and  paper 
in  the  stove  were  now  burning  furiously. 
There  was  a  terrible  roaring  in  the  chimney, 
and  clouds  of  black  smoke  poured  out  into 
the  room. 

"Oh,  Tommy,"  screamed  Alice,  "what 
shall  we  do?  We  have  set  the  house  on 

fire!" 

128 


THE   KITCHEN   FIRE 

"No,  we  haven't,"  replied  her  brother; 
"it  is  dying  down  a  little  now.  Open  the 
windows  and  let  out  some  of  this  smoke." 

Alice  opened  the  windows,  and  when 
the  roaring  had  ceased,  and  the  chips 
had  burned  to  ashes,  the  two  children  sat 
down  and  looked  at  each  other.  Neither 
one  could  speak  a  word. 

Mrs.  Taylor  came  in  just  then,  and  when 
Alice  saw  her  she  burst  into  tears. 

"What  is  the  matter?"  questioned  her 
mother,  sitting  down  and  taking  the  child 
in  her  arms;  but  Alice  could  only  sob 
that  they  almost  set  the  house  on  fire. 

"It  was  all  my  fault,"  spoke  up  Tommy. 
"I  got  some  wet  chips  to  build  the  fire, 
because  I  was  too  lazy  to  climb  over  the 
woodpile  and  get  some  dry  ones.  Then 
when  they  would  n't  burn  I  told  Alice  to 
pour  on  kerosene." 

Mrs.  Taylor  put  her  arm  around  Tommy 
and  drew  him  to  her  side.  "My  son,"  she 
said,  "it  was  your  fault  that  the  chips 
129 


FIREBRANDS 

were  wet;  but  it  was  ten  times  my  fault 
that  you  poured  kerosene  on  the  fire.  If 
it  has  taught  you  a  lesson,  it  has  taught 
me  one,  too.  I  shall  never  use  kerosene 
again  to  light  a  fire.  It  is  a  very  dangerous 
thing  to  do. 

"We  often  read  in  the  paper  of  serious 
fires  that  have  been  caused  in  just  such  a 
way,  sometimes  even  with  a  loss  of  life. 
Promise  me  now  that  you  will  never  pour 
another  drop  of  kerosene  into  the  stove 
as  long  as  you  live,  and  I  will  give  you  my 
promise,  too.  Now  let's  all  build  the  fire 
together." 

So  Tommy  ran  cheerfully  out  to  the 
shed  and  brought  in  a  big  basketful  of 
dry  chips,  Alice  crumpled  up  the  paper, 
her  mother  lighted  the  match,  and  in  a 
few  minutes  the  kitchen  fire  was  blazing 
merrily. 

Why  did  Tommy  bring  in  the  wet  chips? 
Why  did  not  the  fire  burn  well  at  first? 
130 


TEE   KITCHEN   FIRE 

What  did  Tommy  suggest  using?  Why? 
What  happened? 

What  might  have  happened  if  the  kero- 
sene can  had  been  full? 

What  is  the  proper  use  of  kerosene? 


RULES  FOR  THE  USE  OF  KEROSENE 

Always  keep  kerosene  in  a  metal  can. 

Always  keep  the  can  tightly  closed, 
and  keep  it  as  far  from  the  stove  as 
possible. 

Never  use  kerosene  to  light  a  fire. 

Never,  never  use  it  to  start  up  a  slow 
fire. 

You  will  probably  set  yourself  or  the 
house  on  fire  if  you  do. 

Fill  all  the  lamps  and  oil-stoves  by  day- 
light. If  you  must  fill  them  after  dark, 
never  do  so  while  they  are  still  lighted. 
The  flame  in  the  lamp  might  set  fire  to  the 
kerosene  vapor  in  the  air,  and  this  in  turn 
ignite  the  oil.  If  the  fire  runs  up  the 
131 


FIREBRANDS 

stream  of  oil  into  the  can,  the  can  will 
explode. 

Remember  that  the  three  most  danger- 
ous things  in  the  world  for  setting  fires  are 
kerosene,  gasoline,  and  matches. 


132 


HOW  NOT  TO  HAVE  FIRES 

II 

THERE    is   an    old   saying  that   "A 
fool  can  build   a  fire,  but  it   takes 
a   wise  man   to   keep   it  burning." 
This  is  not  true  of  the  fire  in  the  kitchen 
stove,  which  should  always  be  built  by  a 
wise  and  thoughtful  person.    The  kitchen 
fire  has  caused  the  loss  of  many  lives  and 
an  enormous  amount  of  property. 

In  laying  the  fire  use  paper  and  dry 
kindlings.  Never  pour  on  kerosene.  Do 
not  fill  the  stove  too  full  of  paper,  as  the 
smoke  may  accumulate  and  blow  open 
the  door,  thus  scattering  the  burning 
embers  around  the  room. 

After  the  fire  is  burning  well,  close  the 
drafts.     Do  not  allow  the  stove  to  get 
red-hot,  as  it  will  not  only  warp  the  covers 
133 


FIREBRANDS 

and  crack  the  stove,  but  it  may  set  fire 
to  the  woodwork  on  the  walls  or  floor. 

A  roaring  fire  will  sometimes  set  fire  to 
the  soot  in  the  chimney,  or  carry  burning 
sparks  to  the  roof  of  the  house. 

The  stove  should  be  set  at  least  eighteen 
inches  away  from  the  woodwork,  and  the 
floor  beneath  it  should  be  covered  with 
brick,  tiles,  or  a  sheet  of  metal. 

Never  leave  the  house,  or  go  to  bed, 
when  the  drafts  of  the  stove  or  furnace 
are  open.  Overheated  furnaces  have 
caused  many  serious  fires  in  the  night. 
Even  a  low  fire  will  sometimes  burn  up 
unexpectedly,  especially  if  the  wind  blows 
hard  enough  to  create  a  strong  draft. 
Do  not  allow  waste  or  rubbish  to  collect 
near  the  furnace,  and  do  not  keep  the 
wood-box  near  the  stove. 

Chimneys  should  be  carefully  inspected, 
and  repaired  when  it  is  necessary,  as  they 
frequently  crack  with  the  settling  of  the 

house.    They  should  be  cleaned  occasion- 
134 


HOW  NOT   TO   HAVE   FIRES 

ally  to  prevent  the  accumulation  of  soot, 
which  will  burn  with  a  fierce  heat,  setting 
the  attic  or  roof  on  fire. 

If  there  are  open  chimney-holes  in  any 
of  the  rooms  in  the  house  do  not  stuff 
them,  or  cover  them,  with  paper,  espe- 
cially if  they  are  in  the  same  flues  which 
are  used  for  stoves,  furnaces,  or  fire-places. 
Chimney-holes  should  always  be  covered 
with  a  tightly -fitted  cap  or  "thimble" 
made  of  metal.  These  caps  can  be  bought 
of  a  tin-smith  for  a  small  sum. 

If  the  soot  in  the  chimney  is  on  fire, 
shake  on  salt  or  sulphur  to  extinguish  the 
flames. 

Fire-places  add  a  great  deal  to  the  attrac- 
tiveness of  a  house,  but  they  are  especially 
dangerous  if  there  are  children  in  the 
family.  The  sparks  often  fly  out  into 
the  room,  setting  fire  to  rugs  or  cloth- 
ing; babies  crawl  too  near  the  open 
blaze;  or  little  girls  stand  too  near  the 
hearth  and  their  thin  dresses  or  aprons 
135 


FIREBRANDS 

are  drawn   into   the   fire   by   the   strong 
upward  draft. 

Every  fire-place  should  have  a  hearth  of 
bricks  or  tiles  at  least  two  feet  wide,  and 
the  fire  should  be  protected  by  a  wire 
screen.  If  there  are  young  children  in 
the  household,  there  should  also  be  a  fender 
to  keep  them  at  a  safe  distance  from  the 
flames.  Some  kinds  of  light  wood,  es- 
pecially chestnut  and  hemlock,  will  snap 
and  produce  many  sparks.  These  sparks 
fly  out  in  all  directions  unless  the  fire  is 
covered  with  a  wire  screen.  Do  not  build, 
a  roaring  fire  in  the  fire-place,  as  it  may 
carry  sparks  to  the  roof. 

All  fire-places,  open  grates,  and  gas-logs 
should  be  surrounded  by  bricks  or  tiles, 
so  that  the  woodwork  will  not  catch  fire. 
In  many  cities  there  are  laws  regulating 
the  construction  of  chimneys  and  fire- 
places. 

Pipes,  cigars,  and  cigarettes  have  caused 
nearly  $10,000,000  worth  of  damage  by 
136 


HOW   NOT   TO    HAVE   FIRES 

fire.  Lighted  matches  thrown  away  by 
careless  smokers  have  added  $15,000,000 
more  to  this  enormous  waste.  Every  one 
of  these  fires  was  absolutely  unnecessary. 
Cigar  and  cigarette  stubs  should  not  be 
thrown  into  waste  baskets,  rubbish  heaps, 
dry  grass  or  leaves.  They  should  never  be 
dropped  from  the  window,  as  they  might 
set  fire  to  an  awning,  and  they  should  not 
be  allowed  to  fall  through  a  grating  where 
there  may  be  a  collection  of  waste  paper 
and  rubbish.  If  you  see  a  lighted  cigar 
or  cigarette  stub  in  the  street,  crush  it 
under  your  heel  until  the  fire  is  all  out.  If 
there  is  one  in  your  house,  throw  it  in  the 
stove.  In  this  way  you  may  save  property 
and  human  life. 

Christmas  and  Fourth  of  July  are  the 
two  happiest  days  in  the  whole  year  for 
children,  yet  oftentimes  they  are  followed 
by  sorrow  and  suffering. 

Christmas  trees,  when  they  are  lighted 
by  candles,  are  easily  set  on  fire,  as  they 
137 


FIREBRANDS 

are  often  decorated  with  festoons  of  paper, 
and  cotton  "frost,"  which  comes  in  con- 
tact with  the  tiny  flames.  Many  of  the 
ornaments  on  the  tree  are  made  of  cellu- 
loid. These  ornaments  catch  fire  easily 
and  flare  up  with  a  quick  hot  flame,  thus 
setting  fire  to  the  branches,  which  are  full 
of  pitch  and  resin  and  burn  freely. 

No  one  but  a  grown  person  should  light 
the  candles.  Children  should  be  kept  at 
a  safe  distance  from  the  tree,  doors  and 
windows  should  be  closed  to  exclude  the 
draft,  a  constant  watch  should  be  kept, 
while  the  candles  are  burning,  and  they 
should  all  be  extinguished  before  a  single 
present  is  taken  from  the  tree.  This  is 
especially  important  if  the  presents  are 
distributed  by  Santa  Glaus,  as  his  long 
beard,  and  the  cotton  fur  on  his  cloth- 
ing, are  easily  ignited  from  the  candles. 

The  celebration  of  the  Fourth  of  July 
is  one  of  the  most  serious  problems  in  the 
country.     Fireworks  are  dangerous  play- 
138 


HOW   NOT   TO    HAVE   FIRES 

things  and  should  be  used  with  the  great- 
est caution.  Every  year  many  persons  are 
killed  or  injured,  and  valuable  property 
is  destroyed  by  the  careless  use  of  fire- 
works. 

There  are  some  kinds  of  fireworks 
which  should  never  be  used  under  any 
circumstances.  Among  these  are  cannon 
crackers,  fire  balloons,  toy  pistols,  toy 
cannon,  bombs,  and  revolvers  firing  blank 
cartridges. 

On  the  day  before  the  Fourth,  all  yards 
should  be  cleared  of  rubbish,  as  falling 
sparks  might  set  it  on  fire.  During  the 
day  of  the  celebration  cellar  windows 
should  be  closed,  and  stables  and  barns 
should  be  opened  only  when  necessary. 

In  many  cities  the  sale  of  dangerous 
fireworks  is  prohibited  by  law;  but  a 
common  fire-cracker,  a  Roman  candle,  or 
a  sky-rocket  may  cause  serious  damage  if 
it  is  not  handled  properly. 


139 


THE  SUNSHINE  BAND 

THE  Sunshine  Band  was  made  up  of 
twelve  little  girls,  one  for  each  of 
the   twelve   letters   in   their   name. 
They  wore  badges  of  yellow  ribbon  just 
the   color   of   sunshine,    with   the   letters 
S.  B.  painted  on  them  in  white,  and  every 
time  they  had  a  meeting  they  sang  their 
own  special  song;  — 

"  Scatter  sunshine  all  along  your  way, 
Cheer   and   bless   and    brighten   every    passing 
day." 

They  had  a  secret,  too,  and  a  motto. 
Their  motto  was  "Scatter  Sunshine,"  and 
their  secret  —  but  I'm  not  going  to  tell 
you  their  secret.  They  did  n't  even  tell 
me.  I  just  guessed  it. 

They  met  every  Saturday  afternoon, 
140 


THE   SUNSHINE   BAND 

first  at  one  house  and  then  another.  Each 
little  girl  was  always  expected  to  tell  a 
sunshine  story,  and  if  any  one  had  dis- 
obeyed the  rules  of  the  club  she  had  to  pay 
a  fine.  Perhaps  you  will  think  that  the 
rules  were  not  so  very  hard  to  remember, 
but  every  once  in  a  while  a  penny  went 
clinking  down  to  the  bottom  of  their 
bank. 

First  of  all  they  were  expected  to  bring 
sunshine  into  their  own  homes.  They 
must  say  "Good-morning"  cheerfully,  no 
matter  if  the  day  were  cloudy  and  dismal. 
They  must  come  to  the  table  with  clean 
hands  and  faces  and  a  pleasant  smile; 
and  they  must  not  frown  or  look  cross 
if  their  mother  asked  them  to  wipe  the 
dishes  when  they  wanted  to  play  out  of 
doors. 

Then  all  day  long  they  must  keep  their 

eyes  and  ears  open  to  find  some  helpful 

thing  to  do,  no  matter  how  small  it  might 

be;  and  if,  at  night,  they  had  not  done  one 

141 


FIREBRANDS 

tiny  useful  thing  they  must  make  a  black 
cross  against  the  day. 

You  would  -hardly  believe  how  much 
sunshine  they  could  make  with  very  little 
trying,  and  how  many  pleasant  tales  they 
had  to  tell  at  their  meetings. 

Two  of  the  girls  gathered  flowers  every 
week  for  one  of  the  hospitals;  one  did 
errands  for  a  neighbor  who  was  lame; 
three,  who  had  sweet  voices,  gave  little 
concerts  at  the  home  for  aged  women, 
and  another  read  aloud  to  a  blind  girl 
every  Monday  afternoon  after  school. 

Sometimes  they  packed  boxes  of  old 
books  and  toys  to  send  to  a  mission  school 
in  the  South,  and  once  they  shook  every 
penny  out  of  their  bank  to  buy  fruit  for 
a  little  sick  girl. 

Miss  Hastings,  who  was  the  teacher  of 
their  class  in  Sunday-school,  was  also  the 
leader  of  the  band;  and  whenever  they 
had  an  especially  good  sunshine  story  they 
carried  it  to  her.  She  kept  their  badge  of 


In  the  largest  cities  the  firemen  find  their  hardest  work 


THE   SUNSHINE   BAND 

honor,  too,  unless  some  one  was  wearing 
it  as  a  reward  for  good  service. 

One  Saturday  afternoon,  as  soon  as 
their  meeting  was  over,  they  hurried  off 
to  her  house.  "Oh!  Miss  Hastings," 
they  cried,  when  she  opened  the  door, 
"Hilda  Browning  told  the  best  story  of 
all  to-day,  and  we  want  her  to  have  the 
badge  right  away." 

"What  is  it,  Hilda?"  questioned  Miss 
Hastings,  after  she  had  led  the  way  to  her 
sunny  living-room. 

:<Tell  her,"  urged  all  the  other  girls 
when  Hilda  hung  back,  her  face  rosy  with 
blushes. 

"It  was  nothing,"  said  Hilda  shyly, 
"I  just  happened  to  be  there  at  the  right 
time.  That  was  all." 

"Happened  to  be  where?"  asked  the 
teacher,  "and  what  do  you  mean  by  the 
right  time?" 

"At  Mrs.  Hazen's,"  said  three  or  four 

of  the  girls  at  once.    "The  curtain  caught 
143 


FIREBRANDS 

fire  from  the  gas  jet  and  Hilda  tore  it 
down  and  threw  it  out  of  the  window." 

"Wait  a  minute!"  begged  their  teacher, 
putting  her  hands  over  her  ears;  "I  can't 
hear  what  you  say  when  you  all  talk 
together.  Now,  Hilda,  begin  at  the 
beginning." 

So,  with  many  promptings  from  the 
girls,  who  had  heard  the  story  from  Mrs. 
Hazen  herself,  Hilda  told  how  she  had 
saved  the  house  from  fire. 

:<You  know  Mrs.  Hazen  has  been  sick 
with  rheumatism  for  over  a  year,"  she. 
said.  "Her  daughter,  who  has  always 
taken  care  of  her,  has  gone  away  for  a  two 
weeks'  vacation,  so  I  have  been  going 
there  every  afternoon  after  school  to  stay 
for  an  hour  while  the  nurse  takes  a  walk. 

''Yesterday  I  said  I  would  stay  two 
hours  because  it  was  Friday  and  I  did  n't 
have  any  lessons  to  learn;  and  I  took  over 
my  'Youth's  Companion'  to  read  a  story. 

"It  was  such  a  cloudy  afternoon  that  it 
144 


THE   SUNSHINE   BAND 

grew  dark  while  I  was  reading  and  Mrs. 
Hazen  told  me  to  light  the  gas.  When  I 
finished  the  story  she  asked  me  to  open  the 
bed-room  window  to  let  in  some  fresh  air, 
and  then  bring  her  a  glass  of  water. 

"As  I  opened  the  kitchen  door  to  get 
the  water,  a  gust  of  wind  blew  the  muslin 
window-curtain  into  the  gas  flame.  It 
blazed  up  in  an  instant  and  Mrs.  Hazen 
screamed  for  help." 

"And  when  Hilda  ran  into  the  room  and 
saw  the  curtain  on  fire  she  pulled  it  down 
with  her  bare  hands  and  threw  it  out  of 
the  window,"  put  in  Ethel  Strong.  "The 
fingers  on  her  right  hand  are  all  blistered, 
but  she  saved  the  house  from  catching 
fire." 

"Perhaps  she  saved  Mrs.  Hazen's  life, 
too,"  added  Dorothy  Hovey.  'You  know 
Mrs.  Hazen  has  the  rheumatism  so  badly 
that  she  cannot  take  a  single  step,  and  if 
she  had  been  alone  no  one  knows  what 
might  have  happened." 
145 


FIREBRANDS 

"Now,  Miss  Hastings,  don't  you  think 
Hilda  deserves  the  badge  of  honor?" 
spoke  up  Alice  Hunter. 

"Yes,  she  certainly  does,"  replied  Miss 
Hastings,  and,  as  she  spoke,  she  took  from 
its  box  a  gold  pin  with  the  letters  S.  S.  in 
blue  enamel,  and  fastened  it  at  Hilda's 
throat. 

"Not  all  of  us  may  ever  have  an  oppor- 
tunity to  save  a  house  from  fire,  or  a  life 
from  danger,"  she  added;  "but  if  Hilda 
had  not  been  doing  a  little  kindness  she 
would  not  have  been  ready  in  time  of. 
need  to  do  a  greater  one." 

Why  did  the  girls  call  themselves  the  Sun- 
shine Band? 

What  were  some  of  their  rules? 

What  did  the  letters  S.  S.  mean  on  their 
badge  of  honor? 

What  kind  things  did  they  do? 

How  did  the  muslin  curtain  catch  fire? 

How  could  this  have  been  prevented? 
146 


THE   SUNSHINE   BAND 

Why  is  it  dangerous  to  have  a  gas  jet  near 
a  window? 

How  should  all  gas  flames  be  protected? 

A  gas  jet  should  always  be  protected  by 
a  glass  globe  or  a  wire  frame,  and  the 
bracket  should  be  rigid  so  that  it  cannot  be 
folded  back  against  the  wood-work,  and 
cannot  swing  against  curtains  or  draperies. 
If  the  curtain  catches  fire,  pull  it  down 
quickly  and  smother  the  flames  with  a 
heavy  rug.  A  woman  should  never  at- 
tempt to  stamp  out  the  flames,  as  her 
skirts  will  easily  catch  fire. 

If  there  is  an  odor  of  gas  anywhere  in 
the  house,  especially  in  a  dark  closet,  do 
not  search  for  the  leak  with  a  match  or  a 
lighted  candle.  If  you  should  happen  to 
find  the  leak  you  might  cause  an  explo- 
sion or  set  the  house  on  fire. 


147 


VACATION  AT  GRANDPA'S 

DID  I  ever  tell  you  about  the  time 
we  boys  set  Grandpa  Snow's  barn 
on   fire?     It   happened   long   ago, 
but  I  shall  never  forget  it,  if  I  live  to  be  a 
hundred  years  old. 

Kenneth  and  I  always  thought  no  better 
luck  would  ever  come  to  us  than  to  be 
told  that  we  might  spend  the  last  week  of 
July  and  the  whole  month  of  August  with 
Grandpa  and  Grandma  Snow. 

Grandpa  Snow  owned  a  large  farm  up 
among  the  Green  Mountains,  and  as  our 
home  was  in  the  city,  you  can  imagine 
how  much  it  meant  to  us  to  hear  that  we 
were  to  spend  five  long  weeks  in  the 
country. 

I  was  eleven  years  old  and  Kenneth  was 
eight,  and  as  we  had  to  change  cars  but 
148. 


VACATION   AT    GRANDPA'S 

once,  Father  said  we  might  go  all  the  way 
alone. 

We  left  the  station  at  eight  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  in  the  care  of  a  good-natured, 
obliging  conductor  who  promised  to  see 
that  we  changed  cars  safely  at  White  River 
Junction,  and  the  long  ride  in  the  train 
seemed  just  a  part  of  the  vacation  fun. 

I  truly  think  that  we  did  just  as  Mother 
would  have  liked  us  to  do  all  that  day. 
She  looked  so  sweet  and  earnest  when  she 
bade  us  good-bye  and  said,  "Now,  boys, 
be  kind  and  polite  to  everyone  who  speaks 
to  you,"  that  we  could  n't  help  remember- 
ing her  words. 

There  was  a  tired-looking  woman  on 
the  train.  She  had  a  little  boy  who  was 
tired,  too,  and  he  kept  crying  and  fussing, 
until  at  last  Kenneth  said  he  was  going 
to  take  him  over  in  our  seat  and  amuse 
him. 

The  boy  was  a  jolly  little  fellow,  about 
the  age  of  our  dear  little  baby  sister  at 
149 


FIREBRANDS 

home,  and  we  three  had  such  a  good  time 
together  that  we  could  hardly  believe  our 
ears  when  the  brakeman  shouted  out, 
"Walden!  Walden!" 

We  gathered  our  bags  and  boxes  to- 
gether in  a  hurry,  and  bade  good-bye  to 
our  new-found  friends.  In  a  minute  we 
were  out  on  the  station  platform,  and  the 
train  was  whizzing  away  without  us;  but 
we  did  n't  have  time  to  wonder  if  any  one 
were  coming  to  meet  us,  for  down  the  road 
came  Grandpa  Snow,  rattling  along  in  a 
big  hay-rack  and  waving  his  old  straw  hat 
at  us. 

"Hello,  boys!"  he  said,  as  he  pulled  up 
his  horses  beside  the  platform;  "we  were 
pretty  busy  in  the  hay -field  to-day,  so  I 
thought  I  could  come  right  along,  and  give 
you  a  ride  in  my  new  hay-wagon.  There's 
no  fancy  top  on  it,  but  there  is  plenty  of 
room  for  both  of  you  young  chaps  and  all 
your  baggage.  You'll  like  it  better  than 
an  automobile  ride,  I'll  wager.  So  this 
150 


VACATION   AT    GRANDPA'S 

is  Leslie  and  Kenneth,  is  it?  You  surely 
have  grown!  Why,  I  can  hardly  tell  one 
from  the  other,  but  I'll  trust  Grandma 
to  know.  She  always  seems  to  understand 
boys  pretty  well." 

After  a  hug,  and  a  hand-shake,  and  a 
hearty  laugh,  we  jogged  along  up  the  road. 
Even  if  we  were  only  boys  I  don't  believe 
we  shall  ever  forget  that  ride.  It  was  late 
in  the  afternoon,  and  the  air  was  so  cool 
and  sweet  that  it  hardly  seemed  as  if  it 
could  be  the  same  hot,  dusty  day  we 
began  in  the  city.  We  could  smell  the 
cedar  and  fir-balsam  all  along  the  way,  and 
every  little  while  there  was  a  bird-note 
like  a  sweet-toned  bell. 

It  was  n't  very  long  before  we  spied 
Grandpa's  house,  and  dear  old  Grandma 
in  the  door  waving  her  apron  to  us. 

"Well,   Mother,"  called   out   Grandpa, 
as  we  drove  into  the  yard,  "here  are  two 
new  hired  men  for  you.    How  do  you  think 
you  will  like  them?" 
151 


FIREBRANDS 

By  the  way  Grandma  hugged  us  and 
kissed  us,  I  guess  she  thought  we  would 
suit  her  pretty  well.  I  remember  some- 
thing that  suited  us,  too,  and  that  was  the 
good  things  we  had  to  eat  that  night. 

I  wonder  if  there  is  any  one  else  in  the 
whole  world  who  can  cook  like  one's  own 
grandmother?  Perhaps  there  is, --but 
I  know  one  thing,  Grandma  Snow  was  the 
best  cook  I  ever  saw.  You  should  have 
seen  that  supper!  There  were  hot  bis- 
cuits, and  fried  chicken,  and  honey,  and 
gingerbread,  and  cookies,  and  strawberry 
tarts,  and  cottage  cheese,  and  so  many 
good  things  that  we  could  n't  eat  half  of 
them. 

Every  time  we  stopped  eating  Grandma 
would  say,  "  Something  must  be  the  matter 
with  these  boys.  They  have'n't  any 
appetite."  And  Grandpa  would  look  at 
us  over  his  spectacles  anol  answer,  "They 
do  look  pale  and  thin.  Give  them  an- 
other tart."  Then  he'd  give  one  of  his 


VACATION   AT    GRANDPA'S 

great  laughs  and  shake  all  over  like  a  big 
bowl  of  jelly. 

We  had  just  time  after  supper  to  help 
Grandpa  and  the  hired  man  get  in  one 
load  of  hay.  Then  it  was  dark,  and  we 
were  so  tired  and  sleepy  that  we  were  glad 
to  climb  into  bed,  —  just  the  highest, 
whitest,  softest  bed  you  ever  saw. 

We  made  Grandma  promise  to  call  us 
very  early,  and  at  five  o'clock  the  next 
morning  we  were  ready  for  breakfast  and 
the  day's  work  in  the  hay-field. 

What  fun  it  was  to  rake  after  the  wagon, 
and  to  ride  home  on  those  great,  sweet- 
smelling  loads  of  hay ! 

Of  course  we  had  plenty  of  time  to  play, 
but  we  liked  to  work,  too;  and  the  work 
on  a  farm  seems  like  play  to  boys  who 
have  always  lived  in  the  city. 

We   used   to    go    down   to   the   garden 

every  morning  to  pick  the  vegetables  for 

dinner,    and  we  always  helped  Grandma 

shell  the  peas  and  string  the  beans.     It 

153 


FIREBRANDS 

took  a  good  big  panful,  too,  for  we  were 
pretty  hungry  up  there  on  the  farm. 

Every  morning  we  drove  the  cows  to 
the  pasture,  and  every  afternoon  we  drove 
them  home.  We  hunted  for  hens'  eggs  in 
the  big  barn,  and  went  blueberrying  and 
blackberrying.  Kenneth  made  a  collec- 
tion of  wild  flowers,  and  Grandma  showed 
him  how  to  press  them  so  that  he  could 
take  them  home. 

What  good  times  we  did  have !  Even  on 
rainy  days  there  was  always  something 
to  do,  and  we  often  had  the  most  fun  of 
all  when  it  was  raining  the  hardest.  All 
the  boys  in  the  neighborhood  got  into  the 
habit  of  coming  to  play  with  us  in  one  of 
Grandpa's  barns;  and  we  used  to  have 
circuses  and  tight-rope  walking  and  all 
sorts  of  games. 

But  one  day,  when  we  had  been  having 

a  very  jolly  time  together,  one  of  the  boys 

suggested  that  we  should  try  a  new  game. 

"I'm    tired    of    walking    on    beams    and 

154 


VACATION   AT    GRANDPA'S 

jumping  off  hay-mows,"  he  said.  "Let's 
do  something  different." 

He  took  a  whole  bunch  of  matches  out 
of  his  pocket  and  held  them  up.  "Let's 
try  scratching  matches,  and  see  who  can 
scratch  the  most  and  blow  them  out  again 
in  one  minute,"  he  suggested. 

I,  for  one,  knew  very  well  that  matches 
were  not  made  to  play  with,  and  I  said  so. 
Kenneth  and  Willie  Smith  agreed  with  me. 
So  did  Joe  Wiggin  and  Peter  Fisher,  but 
four  or  five  of  the  boys  thought  it  would 
be  great  fun,  and  in  spite  of  all  we  could 
say  the  match-race  began. 

Four  boys  sat  down  in  a  circle  on  the 
barn  floor,  lighting  and  blowing  out  the 
matches  just  as  fast  as  they  could,  while 
Harry  Plummer  counted  sixty. 

In  their  hurry,  they  threw  the  matches 
down  carelessly,  and  before  any  of  us 
noticed  it,  a  lighted  match  had  been  thrown 
into  the  hay. 

It  blazed  up  in  an  instant,  and  before  we 
155 


FIREBRANDS 

could  run  to  the  field  for  help  the  whole 
barn  was  a  roaring  furnace.  Joe  Wiggin 
and  Peter  Fisher  led  out  the  two  horses, 
and  fortunately,  the  cows  were  in  the 
pasture,  for  in  less  than  half  an  hour  the 
barn  was  burned  to  the  ground.  All  the 
hay  that  we  had  worked  so  hard  to  get  in 
was  lost,  besides  some  of  Grandpa's  tools 
and  his  new  hay-rack. 

Grandpa  and  the  hired  man  got  there 
in  time  to  save  the  harnesses  and  a  few 
little  things,  and  then  all  we  could  do  was 
just  to  stand  there  and  watch  the  barn 
burn.  The  nearest  fire-engine  was  in  the 
village  four  miles  away,  and  all  the  water 
we  had  was  in  one  well. 

Luckily  Grandpa's  buildings  were  not 
joined  together,  and  as  there  was  no  wind, 
only  that  one  barn  was  burned.  But 
that  was  one  too  many. 

I  tell  you,  I  shall  never  forget  that  fire, 
and  to  this  day  I  can't  see  a  boy  with 
matches  in  his  pocket  without  wanting  to 
156 


VACATION  AT    GRANDPA'S 

tell  him  this  story  and  urge  him  to  remem- 
ber all  his  life  that  matches  are  made  for 
use  and  not  for  playthings. 

Tell  of  some  of  the  good  times  you  have 
had  on  a  farm. 

What  did  the  boys  do  on  rainy  days? 

What  game  did  one  of  them  propose? 

What  happened  while  they  were  playing 
this  game? 

What  are  matches  made  for? 

How  should  they  be  used? 

There  are  several  kinds  of  matches,  — 
brimstone  matches,  parlor  matches,  bird's- 
eye  matches,  and  safety  matches.  Safety 
matches  can  be  lighted  only  on  their  own 
box,  and  are,  therefore,  the  safest  match 
to  use.  Parlor  matches,  so  called,  are 
dangerous,  as  they  break  easily  and  the 
blazing  head  flies  off,  lodging  in  cloth- 
ing, draperies,  or  furniture.  The  sale  of 
parlor  matches  is  forbidden  by  law  in 

New  York  City  on  account  of  the  great 
157 


FIREBRANDS 

number  of  fires  which  have  resulted  from 
their  use. 

Common  matches  should  be  kept  in  a 
tin  box;  they  should  be  used  carefully, 
and  never  thrown  away  while  they  are 
burning,  or  even  while  the  stick  is  still 
red-hot.  It  is  a  bad  habit  to  have  matches 
scattered  around  the  house,  or  lying  loose 
in  bureau  drawers,  in  desks,  on  tables,  or 
in  the  pockets  of  clothing.  There  are 
many  ways  in  which  fires  have  been  caused 
by  loose  matches.  Lucifer  or  brimstone 
matches  have  been  known  to  burst  into 
flame  from  the  heat  caused  by  the  sun's 
rays  shining  through  a  window  pane. 


158 


THE  FIRE  DRILL 

IT   was    a    warm,    sunny    afternoon    in 
October,  —  one  of  the  days  of  Indian 
summer  that  come  to  tempt  us  out  of 
doors  after  vacation  is  over,  and  work  has 
begun  in  earnest. 

The  pupils  of  the  sixth  grade  in  the 
Ashland  School  looked  longingly  out  of  the 
windows  as  they  put  away  their  spellers  and 
took  the  reading-books  from  their  desks. 
Their  teacher  saw  the  look,  and  under- 
stood what  it  meant.  When  the  hands 
of  the  clock  pointed  to  half -past  two,  and 
the  bell  rang  for  a  five-minutes'  recess,  she 
said,  "You  may  put  on  your  hats  and 
coats,  and  we  will  spend  a  half -hour  in  our 
garden.  I  noticed  this  noon  that  it  needed 
some  attention." 

The  children  looked  at  each  other  and 
159 


FIREBRANDS 

nodded  eagerly.  It  was  just  the  day  for 
a  lesson  in  gardening,  of  that  they  felt  sure, 
especially  if  it  meant  a  whole  half -hour  out 
of  doors. 

The  school  garden  was  their  greatest 
pleasure.  They  had  spent  many  a  happy 
hour  working  together  over  the  flower  beds, 
since  that  morning  in  April  when  Miss 
Brigham  had  ended  their  lesson  in  nature- 
study  by  asking,  "HowT  many  would  like 
to  help  me  make  a  garden  in  the  school- 
yard?" 

Every  hand  flew  up  instantly,  every 
face  brightened  with  delight.  There  was 
not  a  boy  or  girl  in  the  room  who  was  not 
eager  to  begin  at  once;  and  the  moment 
the  frost  was  well  out  of  the  ground  they 
went  to  work. 

The  boys  spaded  up  the  soil,  and  the 
girls  helped  rake  it  over  and  mark  it  out 
in  beds.  There  was  a  narrow  strip  the 
whole  length  of  the  fence  for  a  hedge  of 
sunflowers,  and  in  front  of  it  were  three 
160 


THE   FIRE   DRILL 

square  plots,  one  for  each  of  the  three 
classes  in  the  grade. 

The  children  sent  everywhere  for  seed 
catalogues,  and  studied  them  eagerly. 
Each  class  bought  its  own  seeds  and 
planted  them,  and  once  every  week  they 
spent  a  half-hour  hoeing,  weeding,  and 
watering  the  garden. 

In  one  plot  morning-glories  climbed 
over  a  wire  trellis  and  turned  their  bright 
faces  to  the  morning  sun,  in  another  there 
was  a  gay  riot  of  nasturtiums.  During 
the  summer  the  girls  picked  fragrant 
bouquets  of  sweet  peas,  and  all  through 
the  fall  they  gathered  sunny  yellow  mari- 
golds for  the  teacher's  desk. 

But  now  Jack  Frost  had  taken  his  turn 
at  gardening.  The  nasturtiums  and  morn- 
ing-glories hung  in  ragged  festoons  from 
their  trellises,  and  the  heavy  heads  of  the 
sunflowers  drooped  from  the  top  of  the 
dry  stalks.  There  was  nothing  left  in 
the  garden  but  a  few  hardy  weeds  that 
161 


FIREBRANDS 

had  grown  in  spite  of  the  watchful  gar- 
deners. 

"I  don't  see  anything  to  do,"  said  one 
of  the  girls,  as  she  followed  Miss  Brigham 
across  the  school  yard.  "We  may  as  well 
let  the  weeds  grow  now  if  they  want  to." 

"We  must  clear  everything  away  and 
get  the  garden  ready  for  next  spring," 
replied  the  teacher.  "You  can  see  for 
yourselves  what  ought  to  be  done.  I  will 
stand  here  and  watch  you  work." 

After  all  there  was  plenty  to  do.  One 
of  the  boys  took  out  his  knife  and  cut  off 
the  sunflower  stalks,  while  the  girls  picked 
off  the  few  seeds  that  the  yellow-birds 
had  left,  and  tied  them  up  in  a  paper  to 
save  them  for  another  year. 

They  tore  down  the  vines,  and  pulled 
up  the  marigolds  and  zinnias.  They 
straightened  the  trellises  and  smoothed 
over  the  empty  beds.  Then  they  picked 
up  bits  of  paper  that  were  blowing  over 
the  yard,  and  raked  up  the  leaves  that  had 
162 


THE   FIRE   DRILL 

fallen  from  the  maple  tree  in  the  corner. 
When  the  work  was  finished  there  was  a 
big  pile  of  rubbish  to  be  taken  away. 

"We  might  have  a  bonfire,"  suggested 
one  of  the  boys. 

"No,"  said  Miss  Brigham,  "this  west 
wind  would  blow  all  the  smoke  into  the 
schoolhouse.  Besides,  there  are  too  many 
houses  near  by.  You  can  put  the  rubbish 
in  the  waste-barrels  in  the  basement,  and 
the  janitor  will  take  care  of  it." 

The  other  children  went  back  to  the 
schoolroom,  while  the  three  largest  boys 
were  left  to  clean  up  the  yard.  The  waste- 
barrels  were  full  and  running  over;  but 
they  hunted  around  in  the  cellar  and  found 
an  empty  box  in  which  they  packed  all  the 
rubbish.  Then  they  went  upstairs  and  took 
up  their  work  with  the  rest  of  the  class. 

Suddenly  the  big  gong  in  the  hall  rang 

out  sharply  for  the  fire  drill,  —  one,  two, 

three!     At  the  third  stroke  every  book 

was  closed,  and  in  the  sixteen  rooms  of 

163 


FIREBRANDS 

the  building  all  the  pupils  rose  at  once  to 
their  feet,  ready  to  march  down  to  the 
street.  The  doors  were  thrown  wide  open, 
and  they  passed  out  of  their  class-rooms 
in  double  file  to  meet  another  file  from  the 
opposite  door,  and  move  down  the  stairs 
four  abreast,  keeping  step  to  the  double- 
quick  march  played  by  one  of  the  teachers. 

On  their  way  they  passed  the  dressing- 
rooms,  but  no  one  took  hat  or  cap  from 
the  hooks.  There  was  not  a  moment  to 
lose.  Every  child  must  be  in  the  street  in 
less  than  two  minutes  after  the  stroke  of 
the  third  bell.  They  had  done  it  over  and 
over  again,  in  exactly  this  same  way,  and 
the  principal  was  standing  at  the  door 
with  his  watch  in  his  hand,  counting  off 
the  seconds.  He  would  know  if  a  single 
child  kept  the  line  waiting. 

"What  a  good  day  it  is  for  a  fire  drill!" 

they  thought,  as  they  passed  through  the 

long  halls  and  down  the  stairs;  but  before 

the  last  of  the  older  pupils  were  out  of 

164 


THE   FIRE   DEILL 

the  building  they  realized  that  this  was 
no  fire  drill. 

Smoke  was  already  pouring  through  the 
cracks  in  the  floor  and  curling  up  around 
the  registers.  It  filled  the  hall  with  a 
thick  cloud  that  made  them  cough  and 
choke  as  they  marched  through  it;  but 
not  a  boy  pushed  the  boys  in  front  of 
him,  not  a  girl  screamed  or  left  her  place, 
as  the  line  moved  steadily  down  the  steps 
and  across  the  yard  to  the  street. 

Two  of  the  teachers  stood  at  the  gates 
to  hurry  the  children  off  toward  home, 
and  even  before  the  firemen  came  clatter- 
ing around  the  corner,  the  big  schoolhouse 
was  empty  and  the  pupils  were  safe. 

After  the  fire  was  out  and  the  excite- 
ment over,  the  fire  chief  and  the  principal 
sent  for  the  boys  who  had  taken  the  rub- 
bish to  the  basement. 

Yes,  they  had  lighted  some  matches, 
they  said,  because  the  cellar  was  dark, 
the  waste-barrels  were  all  full,  and  they 
165 


FIREBRANDS 

were  trying  to  find  an  empty  box.  The 
head  of  one  of  the  matches  had  broken 
off,  but  it  was  not  burning,  and  they  had 
not  thought  of  it  again. 

It  was  possible  that  they  might  have 
stepped  on  it  later  and  lighted  it,  and 
that  the  tiny  flame  had  set  fire  to  the 
waste  paper  on  the  floor. 

"That  was  no  doubt  the  cause  of  the 
fire,"  the  fire  chief  agreed.  "Parlor 
matches  are  often  lighted  in  that  same 
way.  This  was,  of  course,  an  accident; 
but  even  accidents  can  be  avoided. 

"In  the  first  place  there  should  never 
be  any  waste  paper  on  the  basement 
floor;  and  in  the  second  place  boys  should 
never  carry  parlor  matches,  or  any  other 
kind  of  matches,  to  school.  There  are 
more  precious  lives  in  a  schoolhouse  than 
in  any  other  building  in  the  whole  world." 

Why  was  the  rubbish  put  in  the  base- 
ment? 

How  did  it  catch  fire? 
166 


THE   FIRE   DRILL 

How  could  this  fire  have  been  avoided? 

Why  is  it  dangerous  to  carry  matches  to 
school? 

Why  are  parlor  matches  especially  unsafe? 

Have  you  ever  seen  a  match  break  off 
when  it  was  scratched? 

What  became  of  the  head  of  the  match? 

Schoolhouses  and  public  buildings  should 
be  provided  with  a  metal-lined  bin  where 
waste  paper  and  refuse  may  be  temporarily 
collected,  instead  of  allowing  it  to  accumu- 
late on  the  basement  floor  or  in  wooden 
boxes  and  barrels.  This  bin  should  be 
located  away  from  the  stairs  or  corridors, 
and  should  be  so  placed  that  water-pipes 
passing  over  it  may  be  provided  with 
sprinklers  which  would  open  automatically 
in  case  of  fire. 

There  should  be  fire-escapes  on  the 
large  buildings,  and  children  should  be 
taught  how  to  use  them.  All  doors  should 
open  outward,  and  should  never  be  locked 

during   the    school    sessions.      Fire   drills 
167 


FIREBRANDS 

should  be  practiced  regularly,  and  every 
child  in  the  building  should  understand 
the  necessity  for  marching  out  promptly 
and  in  order. 

Chemical  fire-extinguishers,  or  pails  well 
filled  with  water  and  marked  "For  Fire 
Only,"  should  be  set  in  conspicuous  places 
on  each  floor  near  the  stair-landings,  and 
in  the  basements. 


168 


FIGHTING  THE  FIRE 

EVERY   village,    town,    and   city    is 
liable  at   any   moment  to  have  a 
fire.    If  this  fire  gets  well  under  way 
it  may  become  a  conflagration,  which  no 
single  fire  department  can  control.     For 
this   reason   promptness   in   reaching   the 
fire  with  suitable  apparatus  is  of  the  very 
first  importance. 

Great  responsibility  rests  upon  the  fire- 
men. They  must  be  cool-headed,  but 
quick  in  action;  cautious,  but  daring; 
ready  in  an  instant  to  perform  difficult 
and  dangerous  tasks,  often  at  the  risk  of 
their  own  lives.  Every  great  fire  makes 
heroes.  It  is  this  life  of  excitement  and 
daring  that  attracts  men  and  makes  them 
eager  to  fight  the  great  battles  against 

fire. 

169 


FIREBRANDS 

In  olden  times  methods  of  fighting  fire 
were  very  simple.  The  only  apparatus 
consisted  of  axes,  buckets,  ropes,  and  short 
ladders.  Men  and  boys  ran  to  the  fire  and 
did  their  best  to  put  out  the  flames,  but 
they  had  no  leader  and  could  not  work 
to  advantage. 

The  first  fire-engines  were  drawn  through 
the  streets  by  men,  instead  of  horses,  and 
water  was  forced  through  the  hose  by 
means  of  a  hand-pump  worked  by  these 
same  men. 

Every  year  the  system  of  fire  protec- 
tion is  being  perfected,  new  apparatus 
is  invented,  and  better  methods  are  intro- 
duced. 

In  the  smaller  towns  the  fire  companies 
consist  largely  of  volunteer  firemen,  who 
leave  their  work  at  the  sound  of  the  alarm 
and  hurry  to  the  scene  of  action.  But  in 
the  larger  cities  the  fire-department  is  like 
a  well-organized  army,  with  its  chiefs, 
captains,  lieutenants,  and  privates,  always 
170 


FIGHTING   THE   FIRE 

prepared    to    wage    a    never-ending    war 
against  the  fires. 

Most  of  these  men  live  in  the  engine- 
houses,  and  are  ready  at  any  moment,  day 
or  night,  to  answer  an  alarm.  The  horses 
stand  free  in  their  stalls,  awaiting  the 
signal,  trained  like  the  men  to  instant 
action. 

With  the  first  stroke  of  the  great  gong 
the  horses  leave  their  stalls  and  stand 
beside  the  pole  of  the  engine.  The  har- 
ness, suspended  in  mid-air,  falls  upon 
their  backs,  and  almost  before  the  men 
can  jump  up  and  cling  to  their  places  on 
the  engine,  the  driver  picks  up  the  reins, 
the  horses  plunge  through  the  open  door 
and  gallop  madly  down  the  street. 

The  driver  leans  out  over  the  pole,  his 
hands  far  apart,  holding  the  reins  in  an 
iron  grasp  and  guiding  the  flying  horses 
safely  along  the  winding  way. 

Gongs  clang,  whistles  blow,  bells  ring! 
The  streets  are  cleared  as  if  by  magic. 
171 


FIREBRANDS 

Heavy  teams  are  drawn  up  beside  the  curb- 
ing; electric  cars  stand  still;  men,  women, 
and  children  hurry  to  the  sidewalks,  or 
stand  in  open  doorways  waiting  for  the 
engines  to  go  tearing  along  to  the  fire. 
The  fire  apparatus  has  the  right  of  way! 

When  the  scene  of  the  fire  is  reached, 
the  driver  pulls  up  the  horses  so  quickly 
that  they  are  almost  thrown  on  their 
haunches;  the  engine  is  wheeled  into 
place  beside  the  hydrant,  the  hose  is 
attached  and  straightened  out  along  the 
street. 

The  police  have  already  drawn  a  fire- 
line,  and  are  driving  back  the  eager,  curi- 
ous crowd;  but  the  firemen  have  eyes  or 
ears  for  nothing  but  the  fire.  The  chief 
shouts  his  orders  and  they  hasten  to  obey. 
The  horses  are  led  away  to  a  place  of 
safety,  and  ladders  are  brought  up  to  be 
used  in  case  of  need. 

Two  or  three  men  seize  the  nozzle  of  the 
great  hose  and  rush  with  it  into  the  burn- 
172 


The  water-tower  pours  a  stream  into  the  upper  windows 


FIGHTING   TEE   FIRE 

ing  building  to  seek  the  heart  of  the  fire. 
Smoke  pours  from  the  doors  and  windows 
in  dense  clouds,  blinding  and  choking 
them  until  they  gasp  for  breath.  Water 
slops  and  spatters  everywhere,  steam  rises 
from  the  blazing  timbers,  and  the  intense 
heat  scorches  and  stifles  them  as  they  work. 

At  last  the  smoke  clears  away,  the  water 
is  shut  off,  and  then,  with  picks  and  axes, 
the  firemen  search  under  fallen  timbers 
lest  some  tiny  blaze  may  still  be  smoulder- 
ing in  a  hidden  corner. 

At  a  quick  order  from  the  chief,  the 
hose  is  rapidly  drawn  back  and  folded  in 
its  place,  the  horses  are  harnessed  again 
to  the  engine,  and  the  men  return  to  the 
engine-house,  to  await  their  next  call  to 
action. 

In  the  largest  cities,  which  have  grown 
rapidly  skyward,  piling  one  story  on  top 
of  another  in  office  buildings  and  dwelling 
houses,  the  firemen  find  their  hardest 
work.  This  is  especially  true  in  the 
173 


FIREBRANDS 

crowded  tenement  districts,  where  hun- 
dreds of  people  live  under  a  single  roof. 

Here  men,  women,  and  children  have  to 
be  rescued  from  upper  windows  and  roofs, 
by  means  of  scaling-ladders  and  life-lines; 
and  sometimes  they  even  have  to  drop 
into  life-nets  which  the  firemen  hold  to 
catch  them. 

If  the  building  is  so  high  that  the  water 
from  the  hose  cannot  reach  the  flames,  the 
water-tower  is  brought  to  the  scene  of 
action,  and  a  stream  is  poured  into  the 
building  through  windows  many  stories- 
above  the  ground. 

In  every  large  fire-department  several 
different  kinds  of  apparatus  are  needed. 
There  is  a  chemical  engine  for  use  in  case 
the  fire  proves  to  be  small  and  easily  con- 
trolleol.  There  are  long  trucks  loaded  with 
ladders,  tools,  and  ropes;  and  there  are 
also  the  regular  fire  engines,  sometimes 
drawn  by  plunging  horses,  sometimes 
driven  through  the  streets  at  a  high  rate 
174 


FIGHTING    THE   FIRE 

of  speed  by  a  powerful  motor.  These 
motors  are  superior  to  horses  because  they 
can  reach  the  fire  more  quickly,  and  can 
carry  heavier  and  more  powerful  engines. 
In  the  harbors,  and  in  some  of  the  larger 
rivers  and  lakes,  there  are  fire-boats  to 
be  used  in  case  of  fire  along  the  water- 
front, or  in  vessels  at  the  docks.  These 
boats  always  have  plenty  of  water  at 
hand,  and  often  do  valuable  work  in  sav- 
ing property  on  the  wharfs  and  piers. 


175 


VERNON'S  BROTHER 

IF  any  one  had  asked  Vernon  Houston 
what  he  wanted  more  than  anything 
in  the  whole  world,  he  would  not  have 
waited    an    instant    before    replying,    "A 
brother!" 

He  had  pets  of  all  kinds,  —  rabbits, 
guinea  pigs,  a  dog,  and  a  pony;  but  still 
his  lonely  little  heart  longed  for  a  brother, 
some  one  to  enjoy  all  his  pleasures,  some 
one  to  go  to  school  with,  some  one  to  play 
with  when  his  father  and  mother  were 
away  and  only  Jane  was  left  in  the  kitchen. 
To  be  sure  he  had  books  and  games 
without  number,  but  he  soon  grew  tired  of 
reading,  and  what  good  were  games  when 
there  was  no  one  to  play  with  him? 

Of  course  he  had  plenty  of  school  friends 
and  playmates,  but  on  stormy  days,  or 
176 


VERNON'S   BROTHER 

when  he  and  Jane  were  left  all  alone,  there 
were  never  any  boys  to  be  found,  —  just 
when  he  most  needed  them. 

In  spite  of  his  dog  and  his  pony  and  all 
his  rabbits  he  could  n't  help  being  a  little 
lonely.  Whenever  he  saw  two  brothers 
playing  together,  he  always  thought  how 
glad  he  would  be  to  exchange  every  one 
of  his  pets  —  pony  and  all  —  for  a  little 
brother,  and  every  Christmas  he  wrote  a 
letter  to  Santa  Glaus  to  ask  for  one. 

On  his  ninth  birthday  his  father  and 
mother  surprised  him  by  saying  that  they 
were  going  to  Boston.  They  promised  to 
come  home  the  next  day  and  bring  him 
the  best  birthday  gift  he  ever  had  in  all 
his  life;  but  what  this  delightful  gift  was 
to  be  they  would  not  tell.  It  was  a  secret, 
and  a  very  good  secret,  too. 

To  tell  the  truth  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Houston 

had  decided  to  adopt  a  little  boy.     They 

had  been  planning  it  for  some  time,  but 

Vernon  knew  nothing  about  it.    They  had 

177 


FIREBRANDS 

always  been  sorry  for  their  brotherless  son, 
and  they  knew  how  many  boys  there  are 
in  the  world  who  have  no  home,  no  father 
and  mother,  no  one  to  love  them  and  care 
for  them. 

They  had  been  waiting  to  hear  of  some 
homeless  lad,  who  was  good  and  honest, 
to  take  into  their  home  and  hearts,  and  to 
become  the  "little  brother"  for  whom 
Vernon  longed.  At  last  a  man  telephoned 
from  Boston  that  he  had  found  just  the 
boy  they  wanted,  so  they  set  off  at  once 
to  bring  home  the  birthday  gift. 

When  they  looked  into  Harry's  bright 
eyes  and  honest  face,  they  were  not  long 
in  deciding  that  he  was  just  the  right  boy 
for  them. 

Mrs.  Houston  bent  and  kissed  him,  and 
Mr.  Houston  took  him  by  the  hand,  say- 
ing kindly,  "Harry,  how  would  you  like 
to  come  and  live  with  us,  to  be  our  boy, 
and  a  brother  to  our  son,  Vernon?" 

Harry  was  too  happy  to  say  a  word,  but 
178 


VERNON'S   BROTHER 

his  big  brown  eyes  answered  for  him,  and 
it  was  not  long  before  they  were  all  three 
on  their  way  to  Greenfield. 

I  wish  you  could  have  seen  Vernon  when 
his  father  and  mother  arrived  with  the 
birthday  gift. 

"Here,  my  boy,  is  the  secret,  —  the 
brother  you  have  been  waiting  for  so  long," 
said  Mr.  Houston.  "Let  me  introduce 
you  to  your  new  brother  Harry.  He  has 
come  to  stay  as  long  as  he  can  be  happy 
with  you.  He  is  only  a  few  months  younger 
than  you  are,  and  I  don't  see  why  you  two 
boys  can't  have  a  good  time  together." 

It  seemed  as  if  the  boys  had  only  to 
look  straight  into  each  other's  eyes  to 
become  the  best  of  friends,  and  if  you 
could  have  watched  them  as  the  days 
went  by,  you  would  have  thought  they  were 
as  happy  as  children  could  possibly  be. 

Vernon  brought  out  all  his  playthings 
and  gave  half  of  them  to  Harry;  he 
showed  him  how  to  make  Rags  do  all 
179 


FIREBRANDS 

sorts  of  funny  tricks;  he  let  him  feed  the 
rabbits  and  the  guinea-pigs;  and  when 
they  went  to  ride,  he  let  Harry  drive  the 
pony.  How  the  little  fellow  did  enjoy 
holding  the  reins  and  riding  in  a  red  pony- 
cart  like  those  he  had  looked  at  so  many 
times  before  with  longing  eyes. 

The  two  boys  ran  races,  played  ball, 
and  went  to  school  together.  Vernon 
never  complained  of  being  lonely,  and  as 
for  Harry,  he  was  the  happiest  boy  you 
ever  saw.  He  tried  to  show  how  grateful 
he  was  for  everything  that  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Houston  did  for  him;  and  he  resolved  to 
study  hard,  to  be  honest  and  true,  and 
never  to  forget  to  do  all  in  his  power  to 
repay  his  kind  friends. 

The  brothers  had  a  room  together  with 
two  white  beds  standing  side  by  side.  One 
night  Mr.  Houston  came  home  very  late 
and  found  that  the  boys  had  gone  to  bed, 
so  he  went  to  their  room  to  bid  them  good- 
night. 

180 


VERNON'S   BROTHER 

He  was  much  surprised  to  find  both  the 
boys  reading  a  book,  with  a  lighted  lamp 
on  a  little  stand  between  their  beds. 

"My  sons,"  he  said  very  seriously,  "I 
always  like  to  see  you  enjoying  your  books, 
but  I  cannot  allow  you  to  read  after  you 
are  in  bed." 

"  Why  not,  Father?  "  questioned  Vernon. 

"Because  it  is  a  dangerous  thing  to  do;" 
Mr.  Houston  replied.  "You  might  fall 
asleep  without  blowing  out  the  light. 
It  is  a  common  thing  to  have  such  an 
accident.  Lamps  are  often  tipped  over 
and  houses  set  on  fire  in  just  that  way." 

"But,  Father,"  urged  Vernon,  "please 
let  us  finish  this  chapter.  It  will  take  only 
a  few  minutes  longer,  and  it  is  such  a  good 
story." 

"You  may  finish  this  one  chapter,"  Mr. 
Houston  answered.  "Then  you  must 
blow  out  the  light,  and  after  to-night 
there  must  be  no  more  reading  in  bed 
with  a  lighted  lamp." 
181 


FIREBRANDS 

The  boys  meant  to  obey  their  father; 
but  they  were  both  very  sleepy,  and  be- 
fore the  end  of  the  chapter  was  reached, 
they  were  sound  asleep. 

It  was  not  long  before  Vernon  restlessly 
threw  out  his  arm.  His  hand  hit  the  lamp 
and  knocked  it  off  the  table,  and  the  oil 
spread  over  the  carpet,  taking  fire  from 
the  burning  wick. 

Rags  had  crept  into  the  room  to  sleep 
on  his  little  master's  bed,  and  the  noise 
waked  him.  When  he  saw  the  blazing  oil, 
he  jumped  down  and  ran  out  into  the  hall, 
barking  with  all  his  might. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Houston  rushed  upstairs 
and  beat  out  the  flames  with  heavy  rugs, 
before  the  bed  clothing  caught  fire;  but 
the  boys  were  terribly  frightened,  and 
no  one  ever  had  to  tell  them  again 
not  to  read  in  bed  with  a  lighted  lamp. 
They  had  learned  a  good  lesson,  and  little 
Rags  had  become  a  never-to-be-forgotten 
hero. 

182 


VERNON'S  BROTHER 

Why  was  Vernon  lonely? 

What  gift  did  he  have  on  his  ninth  birth- 
day? 

Why  did  the  boys  set  a  lighted  lamp  on 
the  table  beside  their  bed? 

How  was  it  overturned? 

Where  was  Rags?    What  did  he  do? 

How  should  this  fire  have  been  avoided? 

A  lamp,  a  lantern,  or  an  oil-stove  should 
not  be  placed  where  it  could  possibly  be 
upset.  Neither  should  it  be  blown  out 
until  the  wick  has  been  turned  half-way 
down,  as  the  flame  might  be  blown  into 
the  oil,  thus  causing  an  explosion.  To 
turn  down  the  wick  too  low,  however,  is 
also  dangerous. 

All  brass  or  metal  work  on  a  lamp  or 
oil-stove  should  be  kept  clean  and  bright, 
as  dirty  metal  retains  the  heat,  thus  caus- 
ing vapor  to  rise  from  the  oil,  and  making 
an  explosion  possible. 


183 


THE  WORLD'S  GREAT  FIRES 

EVER    since    men    have    built    their 
houses  of  wood,  and  have  crowded 
their   dwellings   together   in    cities, 
there   have    been   terrible   conflagrations, 
destroying,  in  two  or  three  days,  property 
which  has   been   gathered   together   at   a 
great  cost  of  time  and  labor.     Thousands 
of  people  have  been  made  homeless,  and 
fortunes  have  been  lost  in  a  single  night. 

As  long  ago  as  65  A.  D.,  when  Nero 
was  Emperor  of  Rome,  more  than  half  the 
city  was  destroyed  by  a  great  fire,  and  the 
people  were  obliged  to  flee  to  the  hills  for 
safety. 

Constantinople  has  suffered  eleven  con- 
flagrations, by  which  more  than  130,000 
homes  have  been  destroyed;  and  in  Japan, 
where  the  houses  are  built  of  bamboo  and 
184 


THE    WORLD'S    GREAT   FIRES 

paper,  fires  sweep  through  the  streets 
with  the  rapidity  of  the  wind,  burning 
hundreds  of  the  little  low  buildings  in  a 
single  hour.  In  fact,  these  fires  are  of 
such  common  occurrence,  and  are  so  de- 
structive, that  the  Japanese  people  keep 
their  valuable  possessions  in  fireproof  store- 
houses in  their  own  gardens,  and  they  often 
have  the  frame  and  paper  walls  of  a  new 
house  in  this  "godown,"  ready  to  put 
together  as  soon  as  the  ashes  of  their 
former  dwelling  are  cool  enough  not  to  set 
another  fire. 

In  September,  1666,  the  city  of  London 
was  devastated  by  flames.  The  fire  broke 
out  in  a  baker's  shop,  and  spread  on  all 
sides  so  rapidly  that  it  could  not  be  ex- 
tinguished before  two-thirds  of  the  city 
had  been  destroyed.  All  the  sky  was 
illuminated  by  the  flames,  and  the  light 
could  be  seen  for  forty  miles.  More  than 
a  thousand  houses  were  in  flames  at  the 
same  time.  Night  was  as  light  as  day, 
185 


FIREBRANDS 

and  the  air  was  so  hot  that  the  people  could 
do  nothing  but  stand  still  and  look  on 
at  their  own  ruin. 

In  those  days  there  was  little  fire- 
fighting  apparatus,  nothing  at  all  to  be 
compared  with  our  modern  conveniences; 
and  the  flames,  fanned  by  a  strong  east 
wind,  swept  through  the  narrow  streets, 
fairly  eating  up  the  houses,  which  were 
built  entirely  of  wood.  The  ruins  covered 
436  acres;  400  streets  were  laid  waste, 
13,200  houses  were  destroyed,  and  200,000 
persons  were  made  homeless. 

The  first  of  the  great  conflagrations  in 
our  own  country  was  the  fire  in  Chicago 
in  October,  1871.  This  fire  was  caused  by 
a  cow  kicking  over  a  lighted  lantern  in  a 
barn;  and,  from  this  simple  start,  three 
and  one-half  square  miles  were  laid  waste, 
200  persons  were  killed,  17,450  buildings 
were  destroyed,  and  98,500  persons  were 
made  homeless.  The  flames  were  fanned 
by  a  fierce  gale,  and  spread  with  great 
186 


THE    WORLD'S    GREAT   FIRES 

rapidity,  raging  uncontrolled  for  two  days 
and  nights. 

In  November,  1872,  the  city  of 
Boston  was  visited  by  fire.  The  con- 
flagration was  confined  almost  wholly 
to  the  business  district,  and  while 
only  800  buildings  were  destroyed,  the 
loss  amounted  to  $73,000,000,  and  hun- 
dreds of  men  lost  their  entire  fortune. 

In  April,  1906,  San  Francisco  was  dev- 
astated by  the  most  terrible  fire  known 
to  all  history.  The  fire  was  preceded  by 
earthquake  shocks,  and,  with  the  falling 
walls  and  chimneys,  fires  were  started  in 
different  sections  of  the  city.  The  earth- 
quake also  caused  the  bursting  of  the  water 
mains  in  the  streets,  so  that  it  was  impos- 
sible to  hold  the  flames  in  check;  and  be- 
fore they  were  at  last  extinguished  the 
burned  area  was  over  three  times  greater 
than  that  of  the  Chicago  fire,  and  ten 
times  that  of  the  Boston  fire.  This  fire 
destroyed  $350,000,000  worth  of  prop- 
187 


FIREBRANDS 

erty,  and  over  300,000  persons  were  made 
homeless. 

The  Baltimore  fire,  in  1904,  burned  over 
140  acres,  and  $85,000,000  worth  of  prop- 
erty was  lost. 

This  great  waste  is  a  serious  problem 
which  confronts  our  country;  but  each 
one  of  us,  by  being  careful,  may  do  his 
share  toward  lessening  the  loss  by  fire. 


188 


NEW  YEAR'S  EVE 

IT  was  the  last  night  of  the  year,  and  a 
happy  little  group  was  sitting  around 
the    supper    table    in    the    Hawleys' 
pleasant  dining-room. 

There  were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hawley  and 
their  two  children,  —  Leland,  who  was  a 
wide-awake  boy  of  fourteen,  and  Rachel, 
who  was  two  years  younger.  Their  cous- 
ins, Lawrence  and  Dorothy,  had  come 
to  spend  several  weeks  with  them.  As 
they  were  all  about  the  same  age,  the 
four  children  were  having  a  merry  time 
together. 

The  Hawley  homestead  was  in  a  little 
country  town  in  New  England;  but 
Lawrence  and  Dorothy  had  always  lived 
in  the  city  of  New  Orleans  and  they  knew 
nothing  about  winter  and  winter  sports. 
189 


FIREBRANDS 

You  can  imagine  how  much  they  enjoyed 
everything,  especially  the  snow. 

They  were  all  laughing  and  chatting 
merrily  when  suddenly  Mr.  Hawley  rose 
and  went  to  the  window.  "I  hear  sleigh- 
bells,"  he  said.  "A  sleigh  is  driving  into 
our  yard." 

In  a  moment  more  a  knock  was  heard 
at  the  door,  and  a  note  was  handed  to  Mrs. 
Hawley  telling  her  that  her  sister  was 
very  ill. 

This  sister  lived  several  miles  away, 
but  Mrs.  Hawley  felt  that  she  must  go 
to  her  at  once,  so  her  husband  decided  to 
harness  his  pair  of  bays  and  drive  her  over. 

"I  am  sorry  to  leave  you,  children," 
Mrs.  Hawley  said,  as  she  tied  on  her  bonnet. 
"Have  just  as  good  a  time  as  you  can, 
and  I  will  trust  you  not  to  do  anything 
that  would  displease  me." 

"I  will  take  Mother  over  and  return  as 
soon  as  possible,"  said  Mr.  Hawley,  as  he 
tucked  his  wife  into  the  sleigh.  "I  shall 
190 


NEW    YEAR'S   EVE 

try  to  be  home  before  ten  o'clock;  but 
don't  sit  up  for  me.  Be  good  children  and 
take  care  of  everything." 

"Perhaps  my  sister  will  be  better  and  I 
can  come  home  to-morrow,"  added  Mrs. 
Hawley  cheerfully.  Then  she  kissed  the 
children  and  bade  them  good-bye,  and 
the  horses  dashed  off  down  the  road  with  a 
great  jingling  of  bells. 

The  girls  looked  a  little  sober  when  they 
went  back  into  the  big  empty  farmhouse, 
but  Leland  tried  to  cheer  them  up.  "  We  '11 
have  a  jolly  time  keeping  house,"  he  said. 
"What's  the  first  thing  to  be  done?" 

"The  dishes,  of  course,"  replied  his 
sister;  "there  are  always  dishes  to  do, 
no  matter  what  happens." 

The  boys  cleared  the  table,  while  Rachel 
and  Dorothy  washed  and  wiped  the  dishes, 
and  set  the  table  for  breakfast.  Then  they 
brought  in  some  wood  and  built  a  big  fire 
in  the  fireplace. 

The  flames  went  roaring  up  the  chimney, 
191 


FIREBRANDS 

and  the  children  sat  for  a  long  time  before 
the  fire,  watching  the  rings  of  sparks  that 
twisted  in  and  out  on  the  soot-covered 
bricks.  "Children  going  home  from 
school,"  they  called  them,  and  the  last 
one  to  burn  out  was  the  one  to  stay  after 
school  for  a  whipping. 

"Let's  roast  some  chestnuts,"  Leland 
suggested,  when  there  was  a  good  bed  of 
hot  ashes,  and  he  ran  up  in  the  attic  to  get 
a  bagful  that  he  had  been  saving  for  just 
such  an  occasion. 

It  was  fun  to  push  the  chestnuts  into 
the  fire  with  a  long  poker  and  then  watch 
them  pop  out  when  they  were  roasted. 
Sometimes  they  flew  across  the  room,  or 
under  the  tables  and  chairs,  and  then  there 
was  a  great  hunt  for  them. 

"We  might  wish  on  the  chestnuts," 
Rachel  suggested.  "If  they  pop  out  on 
the  hearth,  our  wish  will  come  true,  but 
if  they  fly  into  the  fire,  it  won't." 

"Oh,  yes!"  cried  Lawrence;  "that's 
192 


NEW    YEAR'S   EVE 

just  the  thing  to  do.  Girls  first,  —  you 
begin,  Rachel." 

"No,  Dorothy  is  my  guest,"  replied  his 
cousin;  "she  must  have  the  first  turn." 

Dorothy  poked  her  chestnut  into  the 
ashes.  "I  wish  I  might  spend  the  whole 
year  up  here  with  you,"  she  said;  and 
when  the  nut  popped  right  into  her  lap 
the  other  children  joined  hands  and  danced 
around  her  in  a  circle. 

Then  it  was  Rachel's  turn,  and  she 
wished  for  higher  marks  in  school  than  she 
ever  had  before;  but  the  chestnut  jumped 
into  the  fire  and  blazed  up  merrily. 

"That's  because  your  marks  are  good 
enough  anyway,"  her  brother  told  her. 
"What  is  your  wish,  Lawrence?" 

"I  wish  that  I  might  go  to  London  in  an 
airship,"  Lawrence  replied. 

"And  I  wish  that  I  might  go  to  the  big- 
gest circus  in  the  world,"  added  Leland, 
poking  his  chestnut  in  beside  his  cousin's. 

One  of  the  nuts  popped  into  the  farthest 
193 


FIREBRANDS 

corner  of  the  hearth,  and  the  other  burned 
to  a  little  black  cinder;  but  the  boys 
could  n't  decide  whose  chestnut  it  was 
that  flew  away,  so  they  could  n't  tell 
which  one  was  to  have  his  wish. 

"I'll  tell  you  something  that  is  just 
as  good  as  flying,"  said  Leland.  "Let's 
get  out  our  bob-sled  and  go  coasting. 
There's  a  moon  to-night,  and  it  is  almost 
as  light  as  day." 

"I  don't  think  we  ought  to  leave  the 
house,"  objected  Rachel.  "Father  and 
Mother  are  both  away,  you  know,  and 
they  told  us  to  be  careful." 

"Oh,  don't  be  a  goose!"  her  brother  re- 
plied. "The  house  can  take  care  of  itself." 

"We  ought  to  put  out  all  the  lamps 
then,  and  cover  the  fire  with  ashes,"  said 
thoughtful  Rachel. 

"Nonsense!"    exclaimed  Leland.     "We 
won't  be  gone  long.    The  fire  is  all  right. 
There  is  nothing  left  but  the  back-log,  and 
that  will  not  burn  much  longer." 
194 


NEW    YEAR'S   EVE 

"I'm  going  to  put  out  the  lamps  any 
way,"  said  his  sister.  "I  feel  sure  that 
Mother  never  leaves  them  lighted  when 
there  is  no  one  in  the  house." 

"Well,  hurry  up  then,"  urged  Leland. 
"You  girls  bundle  .up  well,  and  Lawrence 
and  I  will  get  out  the  sled." 

In  a  few  minutes  the  boys  came  running 
up  to  the  door  with  the  sled,  and  as  soon 
as  the  girls  were  well  tucked  in,  they 
took  hold  of  the  rope  and  pranced  off 
like  wild  horses. 

There  was  a  full  moon,  and  they  could 
see  the  road  perfectly.  The  air  was  crisp 
and  clear,  and  the  snow  shone  and  sparkled 
like  diamonds. 

"It  seems  like  a  winter  fairyland,"  said 
Dorothy.  "Let's  keep  watch  for  the 
fairies.  They  ought  to  come  trooping 
across  the  fields  dressed  in  pretty  white 
furs,  and  dance  under  the  trees  to  the 
music  of  sleigh-bells." 

The  sled  seemed  to  fairly  fly  over  the 
195 


FIREBRANDS 

snow,  and  when  they  came  to  the  top  of 
the  long  hill,  the  boys  jumped  on  and  they 
all  went  coasting  down,  with  shouts  of 
laughter. 

Up  and  down,  up  and  down  they  went; 
and  such  fun  as  they  did  have!  Of  course 
they  stayed  out  much  longer  than  they 
meant  to;  but  at  last  Rachel  said,  "It 
must  be  getting  late.  Father  was  coming 
home  at  ten,  and  he  will  wonder  what  has 
become  of  us." 

The  boys  trotted  home  again  more 
slowly,  and  as  they  came  in  sight  of  the 
house  they  saw  that  Mr.  Hawley  had 
already  arrived  before  them.  The  rooms 
downstairs  were  brightly  lighted,  and  when 
they  passed  the  living-room  windows  they 
saw  him  hurrying  to  and  fro  as  if  he  were 
busy  about  some  work. 

"Here  we  are,  Father,"  called  Leland. 
"We've  been  out  coasting." 

"And  we've  had  such  a  good  time!" 
added  Dorothy.  Then,  as  she  entered  the 
196 


NEW    YEAR'S   EVE 

living-room,  she  exclaimed  in  amazement: 
"What  is  the  matter,  Uncle  Henry?  What 
have  you  been  doing  in  here?" 

Her  uncle  crossed  the  room  and  opened 
the  windows.  Then  he  took  off  his  hat 
and  overcoat,  and  wiped  great  beads  of 
perspiration  from  his  face,  while  the 
children  stood  in  the  doorway  looking 
around  at  the  disordered  room. 

"When  I  came  home  the  house  was  on 
fire,"  he  answered,  "and  I've  had  a  pretty 
busy  time  for  the  last  ten  minutes.  You 
children  must  have  left  a  log  burning  on 
the  hearth,  and  a  spark  flew  out  and  set 
the  rug  on  fire.  Then  the  table  and  one 
of  the  chairs  caught  fire  from  the  rug, 
and  if  I  had  n't  come  home  just  when  I 
did,  we  might  not  have  had  any  home  by 
this  time." 

"It  was  my  fault,  Father,"   spoke  up 
Leland.      "Rachel    wanted    to    bury    the 
log  in  the  ashes;  but  I  told  her  it  would  n't 
do  any  harm  to  leave  it  burning." 
197 


FIREBRANDS 

"I  suppose  it  was  partly  my  fault,  too," 
said  Mr.  Hawley.  "I've  always  intended 
to  buy  a  wire  screen  for  this  fireplace.  It 
is  never  safe  to  go  out  of  the  room  and 
leave  an  open  fire.  When  we  go  to  town 
to-morrow  to  buy  a  new  rug,  we  will  buy 
a  screen  and  a  fender,  too." 

"And  the  next  time  we  light  a  fire  on 
the  hearth,"  added  Lawrence,  "we'll  stay 
at  home  and  take  care  of  it,  even  if  it  is 
a  moonlight  night  and  we  do  want  to  go 
coasting." 

Why  did  Lawrence  and  Dorothy  enjoy 
the  New  England  winter? 

What  did  the  children  do  after  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Hawley  went  away? 

Why  did  Rachel  put  out  the  lights  before 
leaving  the  house? 

What  accident  happened  as  a  result  of 
leaving  a  burning  log  in  the  fireplace? 

How  could  this  accident  have  been  pre- 
vented? 

198 


NEW    YEAR'S   EVE 

It  is  never  safe  to  have  an  open  fire  In 
a  fireplace  unless  it  is  protected  with  a 
wire  screen.  Sparks  often  fly  from  the 
burning  wood  and  set  fire  to  rugs,  dra- 
peries, and  clothing,  or  sometimes  a  blazing 
log  rolls  out  on  to  the  floor. 

If  it  is  necessary  to  leave  the  fire  before 
it  is  entirely  burned  out,  the  logs  may  be 
taken  from  the  andirons  and  buried  in  the 
ashes.  This  should  always  be  done  before 
the  fire  is  left  for  the  night,  as  a  change  of 
wind  might  cause  a  smouldering  log  to 
become  a  dangerous  firebrand. 


199 


CHRISTMAS  CANDLES 

IT  was  Christmas  Eve,  —  the  happiest, 
merriest  time  in  all  the  year,  —  and 
no  one  need  look  at  a  calendar  to  know 
it.     The  shop  windows  were  full  of  gifts 
and  toys  of  every  description,  and  in  some 
of  the  larger  shops  jolly  old  Santa  Claus 
himself  was  waiting  to  shake  hands  with 
the  boys,  or  pat  the  curly  heads  of  the 
little  girls. 

Crowds  of  people  were  hurrying  to  and 
fro  on  the  streets,  their  arms  filled  with 
packages  of  all  shapes  and  sizes.  Here 
was  a  man  carrying  a  doll  carriage,  and  a 
woman  with  a  tiny  wheelbarrow.  There 
was  a  girl  with  a  pair  of  snowshoes,  and  a 
boy  with  a  Christmas-tree  over  his  shoul- 
der; but  no  matter  how  heavy  were  the 
bundles,  or  how  crowded  the  streets, 
200 


CHRISTMAS   CANDLES 

everyone  seemed  happy,  and  "Merry 
Christmas!"  "Merry  Christmas  to  you!" 
was  heard  on  every  side  in  friendly 
greeting. 

Just  enough  snow  had  fallen  to  bring 
out  the  sleighs,  and  the  jingling  sleigh- 
bells  added  their  merry  music  to  the 
Christmas  gayety.  The  air  was  clear  and 
crisp,  and  beyond  the  city  streets,  with 
their  glare  of  electricity,  the  stars  shone 
with  a  clear  light,  just  as  the  Star  of  the 
East  shone  so  many  centuries  ago  upon 
the  little  Babe  of  Bethlehem. 

Yes,  Christmas  was  everywhere.  It 
shone  from  the  stars,  and  from  the  happy 
faces  of  the  children;  and  it  made  the 
whole  world  glad  with  the  gladness  of 
giving. 

In  the  little  town  of  Lindale,  just  as  in 
all  the  other  towns  .and  cities,  there  was 
the  greatest  excitement.  The  houses  were 
brightly  lighted,  people  were  hurrying  to 
and  fro  in  the  streets,  doors  were  carefully 
201 


FIREBRANDS 

opened  and  closed,  stockings  were  hung 
beside  the  chimneys,  and  Christmas  trees 
were  decorated  with  tinsel  and  candles 
and  loaded  with  gifts  for  young  and 
old. 

But  in  the  big  brick  church  in  the  center 
of  the  town  was  the  best  Christmas  tree  of 
all.  It  stood  on  the  floor  and  held  its  head 
up  to  the  very  ceiling,  where  a  star  gleamed 
with  a  golden  light  like  the  brightest  star 
in  the  sky. 

The  branches  were  covered  with  frost 
that  sparkled  like  diamonds,  and  under 
the  trees  were  heaped  big  snowbanks  of 
white  cotton.  Ropes  of  tinsel  and  strings 
of  popcorn  were  twined  in  and  out  in  long 
festoons,  and  tiny  Christmas  candles  were 
set  everywhere  among  the  branches.  Big 
dolls  and  little  dolls  peeped  out  through 
the  green  leaves,  and  here  and  there  were 
Teddy  bears,  white  rabbits,  curly-haired 
puppies,  woolly  lambs,  parrots  on  their 
perches,  and  canaries  in  tiny  cages,  —  all 


Photograph  by  Underwood  &  Underwood,  N.  Y. 

Fire  Drill  for  the  Firemen 


CHRISTMAS   CANDLES 

toys,  of  course,  but  toys  so  wonderfully 
made  that  they  looked  as  if  they  were 
really  and  truly  alive. 

Piled  high  on  the  banks  of  snow  were 
the  Christmas  gifts,  big  packages  and 
little  ones,  all  in  white  paper  tied  with 
red  and  green  ribbons;  and  when  the 
candles  were  lighted  the  whole  tree  looked 
as  if  it  had  been  brought  from  fairyland 
and  set  down  here  to  make  the  children 
happy. 

This  tree,  with  all  its  gifts  and  decora- 
tions, had  been  arranged  by  the  pupils  and 
teachers  of  the  Sunday-school  for  the  little 
children  of  the  Lindale  Mission. 

For  two  or  three  months  these  "Willing 
Helpers,"  as  they  called  themselves,  had 
devoted  all  their  spare  minutes  to  getting 
everything  ready.  They  had  contributed 
toys  and  games,  they  had  earned  the  money 
for  some  of  the  gifts,  they  had  brought 
tinsel  and  gilded  nuts  from  home,  they  had 
strung  the  popcorn,  and,  best  of  all,  they 
203 


FIREBRANDS 

had  spent  two  happy  evenings  decorating 
the  tree  and  tying  up  the  packages. 

Now,  at  last,  it  was  Christmas  Eve. 
At  seven  o'clock  the  church  bells  began  to 
peal  out  their  merriest  welcome,  and  from 
all  the  houses  came  boys  and  girls  with 
their  fathers  and  mothers,  eager  to  enjoy 
the  pleasure  of  making  others  happy. 

The  little  children  of  the  Mission  school 
were  gathered  in  the  chapel,  and  when 
everything  was  ready  the  doors  were 
thrown  wide  open  and  they  came  march- 
ing in  to  see  the  tree. 

As  they  moved  slowly  up  the  long  aisle 
toward  their  seats  in  the  front  of  the  church, 
they  sang  a  Christmas  carol,  keeping  time 
with  their  marching;  and  their  childish 
voices  made  the  very  rafters  ring  with 

joy. 

The  church  bells  pealed  out  once  more, 
and  a  little  boy  at  the  head  of  the  proces- 
sion jingled  some  sleigh-bells,  while  every 
one  joined  in  the  chorus  of  the  song:  — 
204 


CHRISTMAS   CANDLES 

"  Merry,  merry,  merry,  merry  Christmas  bells, 
Oh!  sweetly,  sweetly,  chime; 
Let  your  happy  voices  on  the  breezes  swell, 
This  merry,  merry  Christmas  time." 

The  Sunday-school  pupils  answered  with 
another  carol,  and  the  superintendent 
made  a  little  speech  of  welcome.  Then, 
when  the  children  were  all  on  tiptoe  with 
excitement,  there  was  a  loud  jangling  of 
bells  in  the  street,  a  stamping  of  feet  at 
the  door,  and  in  came  Santa  Claus  himself, 
with  his  great  fur  coat,  his  long  white 
beard,  and  a  heavy  pack  on  his  back. 

Behind  him  came  six  pages,  dressed  in 
red  and  white,  with  little  packs  on  their 
backs.  They  ran  up  and  down  the  aisles, 
giving  bags  of  candy  to  the  children,  and 
all  the  while  the  Christmas  candles  burned 
lower  and  lower,  the  tiny  flames  danced  and 
flickered,  the  hot  wax  melted  and  dripped 
from  bough  to  bough. 

At  last  the  superintendent  of  the  Sunday- 
school  began  giving  out  the  presents,  and 
205 


FIREBRANDS 

some  of  the  teachers  went  to  help  him. 
Santa  Claus  himself  called  out  the  names, 
and  the  children  ran  up  to  receive  their 
gifts  from  his  hands. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  joy  and  happi- 
ness everyone  forgot  the  lighted  candles, 
until  suddenly  some  one  screamed,  "Fire, 
fire!  The  tree  is  on  fire!" 

Then  what  a  commotion  there  was! 
Men  ran  forward  to  put  out  the  blaze,  but 
it  was  so  high  up  that  no  one  could  reach 
it.  Two  or  three  boys  hurried  down  to 
the  cellar  for  the  step-ladder,  several  men 
ran  to  get  pails  of  water,  women  snatched 
up  their  little  children  and  took  them  into 
the  street,  hatless  and  coatless,  while  the 
teachers  gathered  up  the  few  remaining 
gifts  and  tried  to  calm  their  frightened 
pupils. 

In  less  time  than  it  takes  to  tell  it,  the 
boys  came  rushing  upstairs  with  a  step- 
ladder,  men  came  back  with  buckets  of 
water,  and  Santa  Claus  climbed  up  to  put 
206 


CHRISTMAS    CANDLES 

out  the  fire  which  was  running  swiftly 
from  one  branch  to  another.  In  his  hurry 
he  knocked  off  another  candle,  it  dropped 
into  the  white  cotton  and  set  the  snow- 
banks blazing;  but  there  were  plenty  of 
men  to  put  out  the  flames  before  they 
could  do  any  damage. 

When  the  fire  was  all  out,  and  the 
children  had  gone  home,  and  were  tucked 
safely  in  their  little  beds,  the  tree  was  left 
standing  alone  in  the  dark  church.  But 
it  no  longer  looked  as  if  it  had  come  from 
fairyland.  All  the  upper  branches  were 
burned  off,  wet  strings  of  tinsel  and  pop- 
corn drooped  from  the  ends  of  the  boughs, 
the  gold  star  was  black  with  smoke,  and 
the  snowbanks  seemed  to  have  suffered 
from  a  January  thaw. 

The  next  morning  some  of  the  fathers 
and  mothers  came  to  clear  away  the  re- 
mains of  the  festivity  and  its  disaster, 
and  the  children  came  to  help  them. 

"We'll    never   have   another   Christmas- 
207 


FIREBRANDS 

tree  as  long  as  we  live,"  declared  one  of 
the  older  girls.  "Oh,  yes,  we  will,"  her 
brother  told  her.  "We'll  have  one  next 
year  for  the  Mission  children;  but  we  shall 
know  better  than  to  have  it  lighted  with 
candles." 

"Or,  if  we  do  use  candles,"  added  one  of 
the  teachers,  "we'll  have  six  boys  to 
watch  them  every  minute,  and  we  will  put 
out  every  one  before  we  distribute  a  single 
gift." 

"That's  right,"  said  a  voice  that  sounded 
very  much  like  that  of  Santa  Claus; 
"this  fire  has  taught  us  a  good  lesson,  but 
it  came  very  near  spoiling  all  our  happi- 
ness. No  one  can  be  too  careful  of  fire 
where  there  are  so  many  little  children. 
One  child's  life  is  worth  more  than  all  the 
Christmas  candles  in  the  world." 

What  is  the  happiest  day  of  the  year  for 
Children? 

When  is  Christmas  Day? 
208 


CHRISTMAS   CANDLES 

What  do  you  do  on  Christmas  Eve? 

Have  you  ever  had  a  Christmas  tree? 

How  was  it  decorated? 

Why  is  it  dangerous  to  light  it  with 
candles? 

Why  is  it  dangerous  to  use  cotton  to  rep- 
resent frost  and  snow? 

How  was  this  fire  caused? 

How  could  it  have  been  avoided? 

Christmas  candles  cause  many  fires.  A 
Christmas  tree  should  be  fastened  firmly 
so  that  it  cannot  be  upset.  It  should  not 
be  decorated  with  paper,  cotton,  or  any 
other  inflammable  material.  Cotton  should 
not  be  used  to  represent  frost  or  snow, 
as  it  catches  fire  easily.  If  the  snow  effect 
is  desired,  asbestos  or  mineral  wool  can 
be  used  with  safety. 

The  candles   should  be  set  upright  in 

the  holders,  and  should  be  placed  so  that 

they  cannot  set  fire  to  the  branches  above. 

They  should  never  be  lighted  by  children. 

209 


FIREBRANDS 

They  should  be  watched  constantly,  and 
should  be  extinguished  before  the  gifts 
are  distributed,  as  they  sometimes  set  fire 
to  clothing.  This  more  frequently  hap- 
pens if  the  person  who  distributes  the 
gifts  is  dressed  as  Santa  Claus,  as  his  long 
beard  and  the  cotton  fur  on  his  red  coat 
and  cap  are  especially  inflammable. 

Electricity  is  a  safer  method  of  lighting 
a  Christmas  tree.  Wiring  is  now  especially 
prepared  which  can  be  easily  applied  to 
the  tree,  and  connected  to  the  chandelier 
like  an  ordinary  electric  lamp.  Bulbs  in 
the  shapes  of  birds,  animals,  clowns,  etc., 
make  the  tree  very  attractive. 


210 


WHAT  TO  DO  IN  CASE  OF  FIRE 

IN  case  of  fire  it  is  necessary  above  all 
things  to  "keep  cool."  Try  not  to 
get  excited,  and  so  waste  precious 
moments  in  running  about  to  no  purpose. 
Act  quickly,  but  keep  your  mind  on  what 
you  are  doing. 

If  it  is  only  a  little  blaze,  throw  water 
on  the  thing  that  is  burning,  try  to  smother 
the  flames  with  a  heavy  rug,  or  beat  them 
out  with  a  wet  broom.  If  oil  is  burning, 
never  pour  on  water,  as  this  only  spreads 
the  oil  and  makes  matters  worse.  For  an 
oil  fire  use  sand,  earth  from  flower-pots,  or 
big  panfuls  of  flour. 

If  the  fire  is  well  started  and  you  see  at 
once  that  you  cannot  put  it  out  alone, 
call  for  help  by  shouting  "Fire!"  at  the 
door  or  window  where  some  one  will  be 
likely  to  hear  you. 


FIREBRANDS 

Then  summon  the  fire  department.  The 
best  way  to  do  this  is  to  run  to  the  nearest 
fire-alarm  box,  break  the  glass  which  will 
release  the  key,  then  unlock  the  door  and 
pull  down  the  hook.  This  rings  the  alarm 
at  the  engine-house.  Everyone  should 
know  the  location  of  the  nearest  box, 
and  the  way  to  ring  the  alarm. 

If  you  can  send  some  one  else  to  ring 
the  alarm,  telephone  to  the  nearest  fire 
station.  The  number  of  this  station  should 
always  hang  in  a  conspicuous  place  near 
your  telephone.  If  there  is  no  fire  alarm 
system,  and  you  have  no  telephone,  shout 
"Fire!"  and  arouse  the  neighbors. 

If  you  leave  the  house  to  summon  help, 
be  sure  to  dose  the  door.  Fresh  air  will 
make  the  flames  burn  faster,  and  spread 
more  rapidly.  If  the  fire  is  in  one  room, 
try  to  keep  it  there  by  closing  the  doors 
and  windows.  If  it  is  in  a  closet,  shut  the 
door  until  you  can  get  help.  In  this  way 
you  may  save  the  whole  house  from 
burning. 


WHAT   TO    DO    IN   CASE    OF  FIRE 

After  you  have  given  the  alarm  try  to 
save  what  you  can.  Valuable  papers 
should  be  taken  care  of  first;  then  jewelry, 
silverware,  heirlooms,  and  anything  you 
especially  treasure.  Think  about  what 
you  are  doing.  Don't  waste  time  trying 
to  save  a  looking-glass  or  clock,  when 
you  might  put  a  handful  of  expensive 
silverware  in  your  pocket. 

If  you  are  awakened  in  the  night  by  the 
smell  of  smoke  or  the  crackling  of  fire, 
do  not  stop  to  dress.  Wrap  yourself  in  a 
blanket  or  quilt,  and  waken  everyone  in 
the  house,  remembering  especially  little 
children  and  sick  or  aged  people. 

Then,  after  you  have  called  the  fire 
department,  find  out  where  the  fire  is  and 
what  it  is  best  to  do.  If  the  fire  is  on  the 
lower  floor,  do  not  go  upstairs,  as  you 
might  be  unable  to  come  down  again. 
If  the  halls  are  filled  with  smoke,  you  can 
pass  through  them  more  easily  by  crawl- 
ing on  your  hands  and  knees,  for  the  smoke 
213 


FIREBRANDS 

and  hot  air  rise  toward  the  ceiling,  and 
the  air  is  cooler  and  purer  near  the  floor. 

If  it  is  necessary  for  you  to  go  into  a 
room  that  is  filled  with  dense  smoke,  tie 
a  wet  towel  or  sponge  over  your  nose  and 
mouth.  If  you  have  no  time  to  do  this, 
hold  a  heavy  woollen  cloth  over  the  lower 
part  of  your  face,  or,  at  least,  turn  up  your 
coat  collar. 

If  the  lower  part  of  the  house  is  on  fire, 
and  you  cannot  go  down  the  stairs,  pre- 
pare to  escape  through  the  window,  but 
do  not  jump  out  recklessly.  First  of  all, 
close  the  door  to  keep  out  the  fire  and 
smoke  as  long  as  possible.  Then  drop 
the  mattresses  and  pillows  to  the  ground 
so  that  they  will  form  a  break  in  case  you 
should  fall.  If  possible  tie  the  sheets  and 
blankets  firmly  together  to  make  a  rope. 
Fasten  it  securely  to  the  bed-post,  after 
you  have  drawn  the  bed  close  to  the 
window,  and  then,  when  it  is  absolutely 
necessary,  let  yourself  down,  hand  over 
214 


WHAT   TO    DO    IN    CA8E    OF   FIRE 

hand.  This  is  a  dangerous  method  of 
escape,  and  should  only  be  used  as  a  last 
resort.  Try  to  wait  for  the  firemen  to 
rescue  you. 

If  you  see  a  fire  anywhere,  no  matter 
how  small,  it  is  always  best  to  give  it 
immediate  attention.  If  it  is  only  a  burn- 
ing match  or  cigarette  stump,  step  on  it. 
If  it  is  a  fire  in  leaves,  grass,  or  brush,  put 
it  out  yourself  or  call  for  help.  If  it  is  in  a 
house,  notify  the  occupants  at  once,  as 
they  may  not  know  anything  about  it. 
If  the  house  is  unoccupied,  or  the  family 
is  away  from  home,  call  the  fire  depart- 
ment. If  a  barn  or  stable  is  on  fire,  the 
first  thing  to  do  is  to  save  the  live  stock. 

After  the  fire  is  all  out,  the  next  care 
should  be  to  protect  the  house  and  its 
contents  from  further  damage  by  fire  or 
theft,  and  to  carry  articles  which  have 
been  taken  out  to  a  place  of  safety. 


215 


FIRST  AID 

IF  a  person's  clothing  is  on  fire,  he  should 
neither  run  nor  scream,  as  running 
fans  the  flames,  and  screaming  causes 
deep  breathing,  thereby  drawing  the  in- 
tense heat  into  the  lungs. 

To  extinguish  the  flames  wrap  the  person 
tightly  in  a  rug,  blanket,  or  heavy  woollen 
coat,  and  roll  him  upon  the  floor.  This 
method  is  much  more  effective  than  using 
water.  Often  a  person  whose  clothing  is 
on  fire  will  resist  any  efforts  to  aid  him, 
owing  to  his  intense  fright. 

When  the  flesh  is  burned  or  scalded,  the 
first  object  of  treatment  is  to  relieve  the 
pain. 

This  is  best  accomplished  by  excluding 
all  air  from  contact  with  the  injured  sur- 
face, either  by  dredging  the  part  thickly 
with  flour,  if  the  skin  is  not  broken,  or 
216 


-I- 1 


£    g 


bJC 


FIRST   AID 

by  applying  bandages.  The  best  band- 
ages are  made  of  lint,  cotton,  or  soft  cloths 
moistened  with  water,  or,  better  still, 
with  water  to  which  a  little  baking-soda 
has  been  added. 

Be  especially  careful  to  remove  all 
clothing  covering  a  burn  with  the  utmost 
care.  Never  try  to  pull  it  off.  Cut  it 
away,  a  tiny  piece  at  a  time,  if  necessary, 
so  that  the  skin  may  not  be  broken  and 
thus  cause  a  more  serious  wound.  Never 
hold  a  burn  in  front  of  the  fire,  as  this 
only  makes  matters  worse.  As  soon  as  the 
clothing  has  been  removed  apply  the 
bandages,  and  if  the  burn  is  at  all  serious 
send  for  a  physician. 

If  the  person  receives  serious  burns,  he 
may  become  faint  or  lose  consciousness 
from  the  effect  of  the  shock  to  the  nervous 
system.  If  this  occurs,  lay  him  flat  on  the 
floor  or  couch ;  preserve  all  body  heat  by  cov- 
ering him  with  warm  clothing;  apply  cool 
applications  to  his  head  and  heat  to  his  feet. 
217 


ARTIFICIAL  RESPIRATION 

IF  a  person  is  overcome  by  inhaling 
smoke,  it  may  be  necessary  to  resort 

to  artificial  respiration.  This  is  done 
as  follows: 

Lay  the  person  to  be  treated  flat  on  his 
back.  Then  kneel  behind  his  head,  grasp 
both  arms  near  the  elbow,  and  move  them 
horizontally,  carrying  them  away  from  the 
body  and  describing  a  semicircle  until  the 
hands  meet  above  the  head,  as  in  Fig.  1. 


ARTIFICIAL   RESPIRATION 

When  this  position  has  been  reached,  give 
the  arms  a  steady  pull  for  two  seconds. 
By  doing  this  the  lungs  are  filled  with  air, 
because  the  ribs  are  drawn  upward,  thereby 
increasing  the  capacity  of  the  chest. 

The  next  step  is  to  return  the  arms  to 
the  first  position  alongside  the  chest,  as 


in  Fig.  2,  making  considerable  pressure 
against  the  lower  ribs,  and  thereby  forcing 
the  impure  air  out  of  the  lungs. 

This  whole  act  should  occupy  three  or 
four  seconds  and  be  repeated  sixteen  times 
per  minute.  Do  not  abandon  this  work 
until  it  is  definitely  certain  that  the  heart 
has  ceased  to  beat. 

219 


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DEC  .6    1933 

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.      seQcttllU 

l£May'6.f.' 

K  -C'D  I  D 

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NOV1  91984 

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IK  cn»  DEC  12  1984 

I&M  0  8  2D06 

JAN  ' 

LD  21-100m-7,'33 

VB   10813 


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